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CONTENTS. 


Vll 


of  New  Y 


In  New  York.     In  Massachusetts 

In  Virginia 

In  Maryland.     In  congress.     Eiot  in  Philadelphia 

Congress  adjourns  to  Princeton      .... 

Eivalry  for  the  site  of  the  federal  government 

Coalition  in  favor  of  its  present  site 

Hamilton  on  the  defects  of  the  confederation 

Ellsworth  on  national  existence     .... 

Forebodings  of  Hamilton.     He  retires  from  congress 

Connecticut  delays  its  adhesion  to  a  federal  convention 

Forced  emigration  of  royalists       .... 

Washington  examines  the  inland  water  communications 

Haldimand  refuses  to  surrender  the  interior  posts 

Congress  votes  Washington  a  statue.     It  receives  him  publicly 

Follows  his  counsels  on  the  army  and  navy   . 

On  interior  trade.     On  the  state  of  Ohio 

On  doing  honor  to  Kosciuszko 

An  envoy  from  the  Dutch  republic 

Madison  forced  to  retire  by  the  rule  of  rotation 

Washington  calls  on  his  old  soldiers  to  promote  union  . 

The  city  of  New  York  restored      .... 

The  officers  of  the  array  bid  farewell  to  Washington 

His  journey  through  New  Jersey.     Through  Philadelph 

He  resigns  his  commission 

-He  returns  to  Mount  Vernon         .... 


ork 


CHAPTER   IT. 


VIEGINIA    STATESMEX   LEAD   TOWARD   A   BETTER   UNIOIT. 

17S4. 


Four  motives  to  union 

Congress  declines  to  lead  the  way.     England  compels  union  . 

The  views  of  Virginia 

Jefferson  describes  the  United  States  as  one  nation 

Congress  vote  them  to  be  one  nation 

Jefferson's  plan  for  international  commerce.     Accepted  by  congress 
Jefferson  and  Washington  on  commerce  with  the  West 

Honors  decreed  to  Washington  by  Virginia 

Washington  pleads  with  Virginia  statesmen  for  a  national  constitution 
The  great  West  to  form  an  empire  of  republics 

Jefferson's  ordinance 

Against  slavery  in  the  West.     How  it  was  lost 

Jefferson's  life-long  opinion  on  slavery  . 

His  ordinance  for  disposing  of  the  public  lands 

The  mint  and  American  coinage.     The  cost  of  the  war 

Holland  and  John  Adams.     Generosity  of  France.     Jefferson's  financial  plan    120 

Patrick  Henry  disposed  to  increase  the  power  of  congress      .         .         ,         .  121 

VOL.  VI. — B 


viii  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 
121 

122 

123 
124 
124 


National  measures  of  Virginia 

Jefferson  enforces  union 

Tlie  committee  of  states.     Retirement  of  Robert  Morris 

Lee  and  Madison  on  a  federal  convention 

France  sees  the  tendency  of  the  confederation  to  dissolution 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE    WEST. 

1784-1785. 

Washington's  tour  to  the  West 125 

His  scheme  of  internal  navigation.     Ilis  report  to  Governor  Harrison     .         .  126 

Lafayette  in  the  United  States 127 

Washington  negotiates  between  Virginia  and  Maryland.     lie  i^cfuses  gifts     .  128 

Virginia  appoints  commissioners  to  treat  with  Maryland         ....  129 
The  fifth  congress  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  as  its  president     .         .         .         .129 

Samuel  Adams  for  a  firm  government 130 

The  politics  of  New  York  corrupted  by  its  custom-house        ....  130 

Washington's  western  pohey ISO 

He  brings  it  before  congress.     William  Grayson    .         .         ...         .         .  131 

Pickering  against  slavery  in  the  West 132 

King  revives  Jefferson's  antislavery  clause 132 

The  proposal  committed.     King's  report "      .  133 

Grayson  favors  the  prohibition  of  slavery 134 

His  ordinance  for  the  disposal  of  western  lands 1 34 

Can  congress  levy  armed  men  ? 135 

CHAPTEPv  lY. 

THE   REGULATION    OF    COMMERCE.        THE    FIFTH    CONGRESS. 

1784-1785. 

Proposed  reform  of  the  confederacy  by  less  than  a  unanimous  vote        .         .  136 

Tract  by  Noah  Webster 136 

Excessive  importations  of  British  goods.     The  consequent  distress         .         .137 

Remedies  proposed  in  New  York 138 

Pennsylvania  proposes  a  protective  system     .         .         .         .        .         .         .138 

Movements  in  Boston  noted  by  Grayson 139 

Boston  demands  more  powers  for  congress  and  a  protective  tariff  .         .         .  139 

Bowdoin  recommends  a  federal  convention 140 

Instructions  to  the  Massachusetts  delegates 140 

Movements  in  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island.     In  Pennsylvania       .         .141 
John  Adams  applauds  a  navigation  act.     James  Monroe         .         .         .         .141 

His  compromise  proposal  for  a  revenue.     His  report 142 

His  procrastination 143 

Is  puzzled  by  Adam  Smith  on  the  Wealth  of  Nations 144 

The  extreme  South  afraid  of  a  navigation  act 144 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE 

The  objections  of  Richard  Henry  Lee 144 

Monroe  wishes  his  measure  delayed.     Congress  regrets  Madison     .         .         .  145 

The  Massachusetts  delegates  disobey  their  instructions 146 

Their  reasons.     Bowdoin's  reply 146 

The  effect 147 

The  American  commissioners  for  treaties  meet  with  a  rebuff  from  England    .  14*7 

John  Adams  and  King  George 148 

England  will  not  treat  except  on  the  condition  of  a  preference       .         .         .  148 

Adams  proposes  retaliation.     Interview  of  Adams  with  Pitt  ....  149 

The  United  States  agree  with  France  for  a  perfect  reciprocity        .         .         .  152 
France  reduces  the  duty  on  American  fish-oil.     Treaty  with  Prussia       .         .152 

Spain  reserved.     Noble  spirit  of  South  Carolina.     Treaty  with  Morocco          .  153 

A  new  constitution  cannot  spring  from  congress 153 

CHAPTER   Y. 

OBSTACLES    TO    UNION    EEMOYED    OR    QUIETED. 

1783-1787. 

State  of  religion  in  the  colonies 1 54 

Virginia  disestablishes  the  church 155 

Hawley  and  the  inquisition  into  faith  by  the  temporal  power          .         .         .  155 

Decline  of  the  Anglican  church  in  Virginia 156 

Does  religion  need  compulsory  support  ?     Opinions  of  the  Presbyterians         .  156 

Of  the  Baptists.     Patrick  Henry  proposes  a  legal  support  for  Christianity      .  156 

Madison  opposes.     Opinion  of  Washington 157 

Of  the  Baptists.     Of  the  convention  of  the  Presbyterian  church     .         .         .158 
Jefferson's  bill  for  religious  freedom  adopted.     Other  states  follow         .         .158 

The  statute  in  French  and  Italian 159 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  church  of  the  United  Slates 159 

The  Methodists.     Their  missionaries  in  America 160 

Their  superintendents.     Their  liturgy 161 

Their  first  general  conference 162 

The  superintendent  defined  to  be  a  bishop.     The  Methodists  and  slavery        .  163 

Rapid  increase  of  the  Methodists.     Roman  Catholics  in  the  United  States      .  164 

Adjustment  of  claims  to  land  by  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York          .  165 
By  South  Carolina,  Virginia.     Enlargement  of  Pennsylvania           .         .         .165 

New  York  yields  to  temptation.     Slaverj  and  freedom  never  reconciled          .  166 

CHAPTER  VI. 

STATE   LAWS    IMPAIEING   THE    OBLIGATION    OF     CONTRACTS   PROVE    THE    NEED 
OF   AN    OVERRULING   UNION. 

Before  May  1787. 

Paper  money  in  the  American  states 167 

Laws  of  Connecticut.     Of  ilassachusetts        .......  168 

Of  New  Hampshire.     Rhode  Island 169 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

The  court  and  the  legislature  of  Rhode  Island  in  conflict        .         .         .         .169 

The  laws  of  New  York.     Of  New  Jersey .170 

Of  Pennsylvania lYl 

Of  Delaware.     Of  Maryland.     Of  Georgia.     Of  South  Carolina       .         .         .1*72 

Of  North  Carolina.     Of  Virginia .         .         .173 

Inflexibility  of  Washington ^ 174 

Public  opinion  on  paper  money 175 

Opinions  of  Madison  and  Roger  Sherman       .......  176 


CHAPTER  YII. 

00NGEES3  CONFESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS. 

1783-1786. 
Washington  in  private  life.     The  visit  of  Iloudon 
Invitations  to  France  by  its  king  and  queen  .... 
Situation  and  value  of  Mount  Vernon.     The  house  and  grounds 
The  lands,  negroes,  and  produce 


Washington  embarrassed  for  income.     A  gradual  abolitionist 

Uis  love  of  hunting.     lie  arranges  his  papers 

His  perfect  amiability.     His  exemplary  life  .... 

His  religion.     His  hatred  of  war 

His  sympathy  for  the  Irish  and  the  Greeks    .... 

Ilis  enthusiasm  at  the  beginning  of  the  French  revolution 

He  enjoins  moderation  on  Lafayette.     In  politics  an  impartial  American 

The  commissioners  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  meet  at  Mount  Vernon 

The  results.     States  divided  on  granting  power  over  trade  to  congress 

Opinion  of  Madison 

Of  Washington.     Hesitation  of  Virginia 

Maryland  suggests  a  politico-commercial  commission 

The  wisdom  of  Madison.     Calling  a  convention  at  Annapclis 

The  sixth  congress 

More  strength  to  the  confederacy,  or  an  end  to  the  union 

Plan  for  a  federal  convention 

Strife  between  New  Jersey  and  New  York.     Congress  interposes 
New  Jersey  leads  the  way  to  a  general  convention 

What  was  written  by  Monroe 

By  Grayson.     The  views  of  South  Carolina   . 
Monroe  opposes  a  general  convention     .... 
Grayson's  proposal.     Proposal  of  Charles  Pinckney 
His  committee  ofPer  seven  new  articles  of  confederation 
Congress  rests  its  hopes  on  the  system  of  April  1783     . 

Discussions  in  New  York  city 

New  York  retains  the  collecting  of  the  revenue 
Pennsylvania  recedes  from  the  revenue  plan  of  congress 
Does  not  heed  a  delegation  from  congress 
Congress  expostulates  with  the  governor  of  New  York  . 
Clinton  will  not  yield.     Congress  fails  .... 
Why  it  could  not  but  fail 


.  177 
.  177 
.  178 
.  178 
.  179 
.  180 
.  180 
.  181 
.  182 
.  182 
.  182 
.  182 
.  183 
.  183 
.  184 
.  184 
.  185 
.  185 
.  186 
.  187 
.  187 
.  188- 
.  188 
.  189 
.  189 
.  190 
.  191 
.  192 
.  192 
.  193 
.  193 
.  193 
.  193 
.  193 
.  194-^ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   yill. 

VIRGINIA  INVITES    DEPUTIES  OF   THE  SEVERAL   LEGISLATUEE8    OF  THE  STATES 
TO   MEET   IN    CONVENTION. 

September  1786  to  May  1787. 

PAGE 

The  convention  at  Annapolis .195 

Only  five  states  appear.     Their  extreme  caution  in  their  report     .         .         .196 

They  fix  the  time  and  place  of  a  federal  convention 196 

King  prevents  the  recommendation  of  the  measure  by  congress      .         .         .196 

Clinton  condemns  the  commissioners  from  New  York 196 

King  before  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 196 

Followed  by  Nathan  Dane 197 

Massachusetts  declines  the  suggestions  from  Annapolis  .         .         .         .197 

Madison  and  Virginia.     The  assembly  unanimous.     Its  declaratory  preamble  .  197 
Virginia  selects  its  delegates.     Decision  of  New  Jersey  .         .         .         .198 

Of  Pennsylvania.     North  Carolina  and  Delaware 199 

The  conciliatory  movement  of  King  in  congress.     It  succeeds         .         .         .199 
The  decision  of  New  York.     The  insurrection  in  Massachusetts      .         .         .  200 

Its  legislature  accepts  the  invitation  from  Annapolis 201 

So  do  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.     Connecticut.     New  Hampshire        .         .  201 

Expectation  of  the  British  ministry 202 

Madison  prepares  a  complete  plan  of  a  constitution.     Jefferson's  advice         .  202 

Conciliates  Randolph,  governor  of  Virginia 202 

Principles  that  governed  Madison 202 

The  preparation  of  Washington  for  the  convention 203 


III.— TEE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION, 


CHAPTER   I. 


THE   CONSTITUTION   IN   OUTLINE. 

14  May  to  13  June  1787. 

Events  overruled  by  justice.     General  desire  for  a  closer  union 
Character  of  the  elections  to  the  federal  convention 

Journey  to  Philadelphia 

Arrival  of  Washington.     Opening  of  the  federal  convention 

The  Virginia  members  prepare  a  finished  plan 

Washington  declares  for  a  new  constitution  . 

Position  of  Edmund  Randolph 

His  station  and  character      .... 

Virginia  unites  under  the  lead  of  Madison    . 

Shall  the  convention  vote  by  states  ?     Arrival  of  delegates 

Their  jarring  opinions.     Wa-shington's  appeal  to  them 

The  convention  organized 


.  207 
.  207 
.  207 
.  208 
.  208 
.208 
.  208 
.  209 
.  2C9 
.  210 
.  210 
.  211 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Limited  power  of  the  delegates  from  Delaware 211 

Position  of  Rhode  Island.     Character  of  the  delegates  .         .         .         .211 

Votes  of  individuals  not  to  be  recorded.     Randolph  opens  the  convention     .  212 

He  proposes  an  outline  of  a  constitution 212 

Proposal  of  Virginia  to  found  representation  on  free  inhabitants  .         .  2l4 

Charles  Pinckney  presents  a  plan.     Debates  in  committee      ....  215 

Butler  supports  the  Virginia  plan.     Government  must  act  on  individuals       .  215 

Sherman  not  yet  ready 215 

Debate  on  equality  of  suffrage.     Delaware  interposes 216 

The  legislature  to  be  of  two  branches 216 

One  branch  to  be  directly  chosen  by  the  people 216 

Extent  of  the  federal  legislative  powers 217 

The  right  to  negative  any  state  law  denied.     Coercion  of  states    .         .         .218 
The  national  executive.     The  mode  of  its  election  and  its  powers  .         .219 

Shall  it  be  of  one  or  more  ?     Sherman  for  its  subordination  to  the  legislature  219 

Shall  there  be  unity  in  the  executive  ?     Shall  it  be  chosen  by  the  people  ?      .  220 

Its  period  of  service 220 

How  to  be  chosen.     How  to  be  removed 221 

Speech  of  Dickinson  for  a  vote  by  states  in  one  branch  of  the  legislature      .  221 

Randolph  proposes  an  executive  of  three  members         .         .         .         .         .  222 

Opinions  on  an  executive  council.     The  executive  to  be  single        .         .         .  222 

The  veto  power 222 

The  judiciary 223 

Appointment  of  judges 224 

Shall  the  house  of  representatives  be  chosen  by  the  states  ?  .         .         .         .  224 

Or  by  the  people  ? 224 

How  both  branches  are  to  be  chosen.     Hamilton's  opinion    ....  225 

How  to  choose  the  senate       .         . 226 

Are  the  states  in  danger  ?     The  equality  of  the  small  states  defended  .         .  227 

Franklin  interposes  as  a  peacemaker 227 

Connecticut  the  umpire  between  the  small  states  and  the  large  ones      .         .  228 

The  large  states  prevail 228 

The  requirement  of  an  oath 229 

Term  of  office  and  qualifications  of  representatives       .         .         .         .         i  229 

Of  senators.     The  work  of  the  committee  ended 230 

CHAPTER  II. 

NEW   JERSEY   CLAIMS   AX   EQUAL   EEPEESENTATION    OF   THE    STATES. 

From  the  Fifteenth  to  the  Nineteenth  of  June  1787. 

-:^  The  small  states  dissatisfied.     The  plan  of  Connecticut         .         .         .         .231 

New  Jersey  resists  the  large  states 232 

The  plan  of  New  Jersey 233 

Debate  on  the  extent  of  the  powers  of  the  convention           ....  233 

Paterson  pleads  for  the  equality  of  the  states  in  one  supreme  council    .         .  234 

Debate  on  the  sovereignty  of  a  single  body 234 

Speech  and  plan  of  Hamilton 235 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGB 

How  his  plan  was  received 2b7 

The  Virginia  plan  reported  to  the  house 238 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE    CONI^ECTICUT    COMPROMISE. 

Erom  the  Nineteenth  of  June  to  the  Second  of  July  1787. 

The  states  and  the  nation.     Independence  declared  unitedly  .         .         .  239 

Connecticut  takes  the  lead 239 

Character  of  Roger  Sherman 240 

Of  Johnson.     Of  Ellsworth 241 

Federal  and  national.     Speech  of  Mason  for  two  branches     ....  242 

Sherman  for  two  branches 243 

The  convention  decides  for  two  branches 244 

Wilson  speaks  for  the  general  government  and  the  state  governments  .         .  244 
Ellsworth  would  graft  a  general  government  on  the  state  governments  .  245 

The  mode  of  choosing  and  term  of  oflace  of  the  senators      ....  245 
The  decision.    Fierce  contest  between  the  smaller  states  and  the  large  ones     246 

Franklin  proposes  prayer 247 

The  debate  continues 248 

Suffrage  in  the  first  branch  proportioned  to  population  ....  249 

Ellsworth  would  have  the  vote  in  the  senate  by  states 249 

Speech  of  Baldwin.     Wilson  refuses  to  yield 250 

So  does  Madison,     Persistence  of  Ellsworth 251 

He  is  supported  by  North  Carolina         . 252 

The  convention  equally  divided 253 

Appointment  of  a  grand  committee  to  report  a  compromise  ....  253^ 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE    ADJUSTMENT    OF    REPRESENTATION". 

From  the  Third  to  the  Twenty-third  of  July  1787. 

Franklin's  compromise 255 

Morris  claims  representation  for  property 256 

The  ratio  of  representation  referred  to  a  committee 256 

Report  of  the  committee 257 

Appointment  of  a  committee  of  one  from  each  state 257 

Madison's  proposal  of  compromise.     Report  of  the  new  committee       .         .  258 

Approved  by  all  except  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 259 

Yates  and  Lansing  desert  their  post 259 

The  southern  states  have  a  majority  in  the  convention 260 

Abolition  of  slavery  in  the  North 260 

Movement  against  the  slave-trade.     Two  classes  of  slave  states     .         .         .  261 
Jealousy  of  the  speedy  preponderance  of  western  states       ....  262 

The  equal  rights  of  the  western  states  maintained 263 

Strife  on  the  representation  for  slaves 264 

A  triple  set  of  parties  prevent  a  decision.     Rash  proposal  of  Morris     .         .  265 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Taxation  and  representation 265 

Slaves  to  be  counted  as  three  fifths  in  representation 266 

Morris  fears  injury  to  commerce  from  the  influence  of  western  states    .         ,  267 

Eepresentation  in  the  second  branch  proportioned  to  numbers       .         .         .  267 

Effect  of  the  decision  on  the  political  power  of  ihe  South     ....  268 

The  senate  to  vote  by  states 269 

CHAPTER   Y. 

THE   OUTLINE    OF   THE    CONSTITUTION   COMPLETED   AND    REFEERED, 

From  the  Seventeenth  to  the  Twenty-seventh  of  Julj  1787. 

The  distribution  of  powers  between  the  general  government  and  the  states    .  270 

Eelation  of  federal  legislation  to  that  of  the  states 270 

Property  qualification  as  a  condition  of  holding  office 271 

Qualification  of  the  electors  left  to  the  states 272 

Extent  of  the  Jurisdiction  of  federal  tribunals 272 

How  the  new  constitution  was  to  be  ratified 273 

Committee  of  five  ordered  to  report  the  resolutions  of  the  convention  in  the 

form  of  a  constitution 274 

Character  of  Rutledge 274 

Industry  of  the  committee 275 

Anxiety  of  the  country 276 

CHAPTER  YI. 

THE    COLONIAL   SYSTEM   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

From  January  1786  to  July  1787. 

The  ordinance  of  1787.     Treaty  with  the  Shawnees 277 

Monroe's  journey  to  the  West 277 

Report  of  a  grand  committee  on  the  western  territory 278 

Monroe's  plan  for  a  north-western  ordinance 279 

Monroe  and  restrictions  on  slavery 279^ 

Certain  waters  and  carrying  places  declared  free.     The  Connecticut  reserve  .  279 

The  proposed  five  states  in  the  North-west 280 

Jealousy  of  the  western  states.     KaskasKias 280 

Urgent  need  of  a  territorial  government.     Progress  of  the  bill       .         .         .  281 

Rufus  Putnam's  plan  for  colonizing  the  West.     His  appeal  to  Washington    .  282 

Parsons  visits  the  West 283 

Congress  quiets  the  Indian  title  to  a  great  pari  of  Ohio 283 

Formation  of  the  Ohio  company 284 

Parsons  presents  its  memorial  to  congress.     Effect  of  the  memorial       .         .  285 

Power  of  the  South 285 

Cutler  before  congress.     Carrington's  report 286 

Richard  Henry  Lee  on  a  new  committee  of  seven 286 

Ordinance  for  governing  the  territory  of  the  United  States.     Its  clauses        .  287 

Clause  on  contracts 288 

Grayson  and  slavery.     Nathan  Dane  and  King ".  289 


CONTENTS.  XV 


PAOK 


History  of  the  clause  against  slavery 289 

Virginia  accepts  the  ordinance  with  its  exclusion  of  slavery  ....  291 

The  rights  of  the  free  negro  in  New  Yorii  and  Virginia  ....  291 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   CONSTITUTION   IN   DETAIL.      THE   POWERS    OF    CONGRESS. 

From  the  Sixth  of  August  to  the  Tenth  of  September  1787. 

Report  of  the  committee  of  detail 292 

The  constitution  a  government  by  the  people 292 

Membership  of  a  colony  defined.    Who  arc  the  people  of  the  United  States  ?  .  293 

The  new  government  a  unity  in  plurality.     The  tripartite  division  of  powers .  293 

Election  of  the  members  of  congress 294 

Continuous  succession  of  the  government  provided  for 294 

The  new  government  to  be  supported  from  the  common  treasury  .         .         .  294 

Number  of  representatives 294 

Qualifications  of  membership.     Discrimination  against  the  foreign-born         .  295 

Property  qualification  rejected 296 

The  quorum.     Qualifications  of  electors  .    , 297 

To  be  established  by  each  state  for  itself 298 

Relation  of  the  slave-trade  to  representation.     Of  slavery      ....  299 

Why  slaves  should  not  be  represented 299 

The  question  adjourned.     Powers  gi-anted  to  the  new  government .        .         .  301 

Power  to  emit  paper  money  discussed  by  Hamilton 301 

By  Gouverncur  Morris 302 

By  Mason,  Gorham,  Mercer,  Ellsworth,  Randolph,  Wilson,  and  Langdon        .  302 

Madison's  vote  decides  that  the  power  shall  not  be  granted   ....  303 

How  friends  of  paper  money  stand  in  history 303 

Power  of  the  states  to  emit  paper  money 304 

The  power  absolutely  prohibited 305 

Power  left  to  the  states  to  interfere  with  contracts 305 

But  not  to  interfere  ex  post  facto.     The  terra  ex  post  facto  defined        .         .  306 

Power  of  the  congress  to  encourage  manufactures  by  impost  duties       .         .  307 

Shall  states  or  the  United  States  encourage  manufactures  ?    .         .         .         .  307 

Power  confined  to  the  United  States 307 

States  not  to  treat  with  foreign  powers  or  other  states 308 

Slaves  and  representation 308 

Who  are  citizens  ?     Fugitives  from  justice.     Fugitive  slaves  .         .         .  309 

CHAPTER   Vm. 

THE   CONSTITUTION    IN    DETAIL.      THE    POWERS    OF    CONGRESS,    CONTINUED. 

From  the  Middle  to  the  End  of  August  1787. 

The  assumption  of  the  state  debts.     Jurisdiction  over  crimes         .         .         .  311 

Power  to  subdue  a  rebellion 311 

Power  of  declaring  war.     General  propositions  of  Madison.     The  army  .312 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

PAOE 

Navy  and  militia.     Clause  on  the  militia 313 

Compromise  on  the  appointment  of  militia  ofBcers 314 

Power  to  execute  the  powers  granted.     Treason 314 

State  laws  cannot  shield  the  traiior 314 

Commerce  and  the  slave-trade 315 

Exports  exempted  from  taxation.     Debate  on  continuing  the  slave-trade        .  316 

South  Carolina  and  Georgia  threaten  to  secede 318 

Dickinson  hints  at  a  compromise 318 

North  Carolina  will  join  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  on  the  question      .         .319 

The  question  committed         ....                 319 

The  questions  of  the  slave-trade  and  of  a  navigation  act  committed        .         .  320 

The  compromise  of  the  committee.     Final  shape  of  the  compromise       .         .  320 

Slave-trade  abolished  after  twenty  years.     Doom  of  slave-holding.         .         .  321 

Why  the  British  failed  in  retaining  the  South 322 

How  slaves  may  emerge  into  the  human  character 322 

Grant  of  power  to  regulate  commerce 323 

The  admission  of  new  states  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States        .         .  323 

The  admission  of  new  states  from  abroad  permitted 323 

Special  provision  for  the  admission  of  Vermont 324 

Powers  of  congress  over  the  territory  and  other  property  of  the  United 

States 324 

Limit  on  the  taxation  of  slaves 325 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   PRESIDENT. 

July,  August,  and  September  1787. 

The  choice  of  the  president  a  difficult  problem,     IIow  shall  he  be  chosen?    .  326 

Shall  he  be  re-cligible  ? 327 

The  tenure  of  good  behavior  considered 328 

The  tenure  for  seven  years  with  perpetual  re-eliiribility  ....  328 

Choice  by  the  national  legislature  and  re-eligibility  incompatible  .  .  .  328 
The  choice  of  the  president  by  the  argregate  people  rejected  .  .  .  328 
The  choice  by  an  electoral  college.     Objections  started  against  it  .         .         .  329 

A  triple  executive  proposed 330 

Pelation  of  re-eligibility  of  the  executive  to  the  length  of  the  period  of  office  330 
Madison  likes  best  the  election  by  the  quaUfied  part  of  the  people  at  large  .  330 
The  smaller  states  would  have  each  one  vote  for  two  candidates  .  .  .  330 
The  convention  votes  for  a  single  executive,  to  be  chosen  by  the  legislature 

for  seven  years,  and  to  be  inehgible 331 

The  decision  not  accepted  as  final.     Report  of  the  committee  of  detail  .         .332 

Antagonism  of  the  smaller  and  the  large  states 332 

The  choice  of  the  president  by  the  vote  of  the  states  negatived      .         .         .  333 

Subject  referred  to  a  committee  of  eleven 334 

'  Opinions  of  Gouverneur  Morris.     Of  Sherman 334 

Report  of  the  committee 335 

The  president  to  be  voted  for  in  the  electoral  colleges  of  the  states        .         .  335 


CONTENTS. 


xvii 


PAGE 

And  the  vote  to  be  counted  by  tlio  senate 335 

The  plan  of  leaving  so  much  pov/cr  to  the  senate  objected  to        .         .         .  836 

Speech  of  Wilson 337 

Of  Hamilton.     How  the  votes  were  to  be  counted 338 

The  mode  of  counting  in  Massachusetts  preferred  to  that  of  Virginia     .         .  338 

A  summary  statement  of  the  metliod  adopted 339 

Election  of  the  vice-president 341 

Title  of  the  president.     The  veto  power.     Power  of  pardon  .         .         .         .342 

The  president  commander-in-chief 342 

Restraints  proposed  on  the  executive  power.  A  privy  council  proposed  .  343 
The  plan  for  a  council  rejected.  Relation  of  the  president  and  the  senate  .  344 
Power  of  war  and  peace.     Over  intercourse  with  foreign  states     .         .         .  345 

Power  of  appointment.     Power  of  removal 345 

Qualifications  of  the  president.  Impeachment  of  the  president  .  ^  -  .  346 
State  of  the  president  while  on  trial.     Judgment  in  case  of  impeachment       .  347 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE    FEDEKAL   JUDICIAEY. 

August  and  September  1787. 

Report  on  the  federal  judiciary.     The  judiciary  and  the  veto  power       .         .  348 

Proposals  of  Pinckney 348 

Organization  of  federal  courts 349 

Judges  not  removable  by  address.     Extent  of  the  judicial  power   .         .         .  350 

The  judiciary  and  unconstitutional  laws £50 

Senate  to  try  impeachments.  To  cases  beginning  and  ending  in  a  state  .  351 
The  original  jurisdiction  of  the  supreme  court.  Its  appellate  powers  .  .351 
Method  of  choosing  it.     The  supreme  court  and  legislative  encroachments     .  352 

Protection  against  erroneous  judgments 352 

By  the  court.  By  congress.  By  the  good  sense  of  the  land  .  .  .  .353 
Methods  of  consolidating  the  union.     Of  bankruptcies.     Of  money  bills         .  354 

Number  of  the  house  of  representatives 354 

How  the  constitution  was  to  be  ratified 355 

Randolph  and  Franklin  for  another  federal  convention 356 

CHAPTER  XI. 


THE   LAST   DATS    OF    THE   CONVENTION". 

From  tlie  Twelfth  to  the  Seventeenth  of  September  1787. 


Final  draft  of  the  constitution 

The  constitution  the  institution  of  a  government  by  the  people 
"Why  the  names  of  the  thirteen  states  were  left  out  of  the  first  clause 
Federal  and  national.     The  veto  of  the  president.     Of  juries 
Motion  for  a  bill  of  rights  defeated.     No  title  for  the  president      . 
Of  encouraging  American  manufactures.     Servitude  and  service    . 
How  to  introduce  the  constitution.     The  keeper  of  the  purse 
Power  to  cut  canals  negatived 


357 

357 

357 

358 

359  '.-sS^ 

359 

360 

360 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

Of  a  university.     No  state  to  trespass  on  the  rights  of  another  state      .         .  381 

The  obligation  of  contracts 361 

The  distribution  of  representation 362 

Slavery  not  recognized  as  a  legal  condition 362 

Modes  of  amending  the  constitution 363 

Mason  dreads  navigation  acts.     Indecision  of  Randolph         ....  364 

Firmness  of  Pinckney 364 

The  constitution  ordered  to  be  engrossed 365 

Washington's  remark  to  members  of  the  conveation 365 

Speech  of  Franklin 365 

An  amendment  adopted  at  the  wish  of  Washington 366 

Appeals  of  Morris  and  Hamilton  to  every  one  to  sign  the  constitution  .         .366 

Three  refuse 366 

The  constitution  signed  by  every  state.     Prophecy  of  Franklin     .         .         .  36*7 

The  meditations  of  Washington 367 


IV,— TEE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  STATES  IX  JUDGMENT  ON  THE  COXSTITU- 
TIOX.    178T-178S. 

CnAPTER    I. 

THE   COXSTITUTION  IX   COXGEESS   AND   IX   VIEGIXIA. 

September  to  November  1787. 

The  constitution  received  in  congress.     Opposed  in  congress  .         .         .  371 

Amendments  desired  by  Lee S72 

Is  supported  by  New  York.     Propositions  of  New  Jersey      ....  373 

Congress  against  Lee 373 

A  compromise  agreed  upon.     Perseverance  of  Lee 374 

Efforts  of  Washington  in  Virginia 375 

Opponents  of  the  constitution  in  Virginia 376 

Washington  wins  over  Randolph 377 

Monroe  writes  in  favor  of  adopting  the  constitution 377 

The  legislature  of  Virginia 377 

The  constitution  referred  to  a  state  convention 378 

But  amendments  may  be  proposed  in  the  state  convention     ....  378 

Plan  for  a  second  federal  convention 379 

Letters  from  Washington 379 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    COXSTITUTIOX   IX   PEXXSYLVAXIA,    DELiTVAEE,    AND   XEW  JEESEY  ;    AXD 

IX   GEOEGIA. 

From  18  September  1787  to  2  January  1788. 

Pennsylvania 381 

Franklin  presents  the  constitution  to  its  legislature 382 


CONTENTS.  xix 

PAOK 

Long  debates  upon  it 382 

Reception  of  the  resolution  of  congress.     A  convention  called        .         .         .  383 

Lee  and  Wilson  in  Pennsylvania • .         .         .  383 

Prompt  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  convention 384 

Speech  of  Wilson  in  favor  of  the  constitution 384 

Opposed  by  Smilie.     And  by  Whitehiil 386 

On  the  want  of  a  bill  of  rights 387 

Speech  of  Findley 388 

The  constitution  in  the  Delaware  legislature 389 

The  Delaware  convention  ratifies  the  constitution 389 

Pennsylvania  ratifies  the  constitution 390 

Act  of  the  legislature  of  New  Jersey 391 

The  New  Jersey  convention  ratifies  the  constitution 391 

The  legislature  of  Georgia 392 

Georgia  unanimously  ratifies  the  constitution 392 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    CONSTITUTION   IN   CONNECTICUT    AND   MASSACHUSETTS. 

From  26  September  1787  to  6  February  1788. 

Letter  of  Sherman  and  Ellsworth  to  the  governor  of  Connecticut  .        .        .  393 
The  Connecticut  convention.     Speeches  of  Ellsworth  and  Johnson         .         .  394 

James  Wadsworth  and  answers  to  him 394 

Wise  conduct  of  Hancock 395 

Massachusetts  calls  a  convention 395 

Condition  of  the  state.     The  elections 396 

Samuel  Adams.     Opening  of  the  convention 397 

Elbridge  Gerry.     Conduct  of  Samuel  Adams 398 

Objections  to  the  constitution.     Property  qualifications  .         .         .         .398 

Representation  of  slaves.     On  a  religious  test 399 

Period  of  office  for  senators.     King  explains  the  constitution        .         .         .  399 

Dawes  argues  for  protective  duties 399 

The  convention  wavering 400 

It  follows  Washington's  mode  of  avoiding  a  second  convention      .         .         .  401 

Objections  made  and  answered 401 

The  slave-trade.     Hancock  proposes  resolutions 402 

Supported  by  Samuel  Adams 403 

Amendments  referred  to  a  committee 404 

The  committee  report  its  approval  of  the  constitution 404 

Objections  on  the  score  of  the  slave-trade 404 

And  for  the  want  of  a  bill  of  rights 405 

Stillman  speaks  for  the  constitution 405  ' 

In  what  words  Hancock  proposed  the  question 405 

The  vote.     Acquiescence  of  the  opposition 406 

Madison  adopts  the  policy  of  Massachusetts 406 

Opinions  of  Jefferson 406 

Of  John  Adams 408 


XX 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

409 
410 
410 


OriAPTER  IV. 

THE    COXSTITUTIOX    IN    NEW    HAMPSHIRE,   MARYLAND,   AND    SOUTH    CAROLINA. 

From  February  to  the  Twenty-tliird  of  May  1783. 

The  constitution  in  New  Hampshire 

Its  convention  adjourns.     The  assembly  of  Maryland  calls  a  convention 
The  cabals  of  Virginia.     Influence  of  Washington  .... 

The  election  of  a  convention  in  Maryland 410 

Advice  of  Washington.     The  convention  of  Maryland  at  Annapolis        .         .411 

Conduct  of  Chase.     Of  Paca 412 

Conduct  of  enemies  and  friends  to  the  federal  government     .         .         .         .412 

The  constitution  ratified.     No  amendments  proposed 413 

Maryland  will  have  no  separate  confederacy.     Hopefulness  of  Washington    .  413 
The  constitution  in  South  Carolina.     Attitude  of  its  assembly         .         .         .  414 

Debate  between  Lowndes  and  Pinckney 415 

Why  there  was  no  bill  of  rights 418 

Speech  of  Kutledge.     Call  of  a  convention.     The  convention  organized  .         .  419 
The  constitution  ratified.     Joy  of  Gadsden.     Effect  on  New  Uampshire  .  420 


\ 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   CONSTITUTION   IN   YIRGINIA   AND   IN   NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

From  May  1785  to  the  Twenty-fifth  of  June  1788. 


Jay's  negotiation  with  Gardoqui 

Alarm  of  the  southern  states 

Danger  of  a  separation  of  the  southern  states 

Failure  of  the  negotiation.     Washington 

And  Jefferson.     Randolph  will  sapport  the  constitution 

Effect  of  the  example  of  Massachusetts  on  Virginia 

The  opposition  in  the  Virginia  convention.     Madison     . 

And  Pendleton.     Mason.     Patrick  Henry  leads  the  opposition 

Is  replied  to  by  Pendleton  and  Madison         .... 

Praise  of  the  British  constitution 

Madison  compares  the  British  and  American  constitutions     . 
Henry  speaks  against  the  judiciary  system.     Marshall  defends  it 
The  debtor  planters.     Henry  on  a  separate  confederacy 

Mason  and  Madison  on  the  slave-trade 

And  Tyler.     Henry  fears  emancipation  by  the  general  government 
Noble  speech  of  Randolph.     Slavery  condemned  by  Johnson 

Navigation  of  the  Mississippi 

Contest  between  the  North  and  the  South      .... 
The  power  to  regulate  commerce.     The  prohibition  of  paper  mone; 

Quieting  language  of  Henry 

The  convention  refuses  a  conditional  ratification    . 

The  ratification.     Its  form.     Acquicsc?nce  of  the  opposition . 

New  Uampshire  ratifies  before  Virginia  .... 


421 
422 
422 
423 
424 
425 
425 
426 
427 
427 
428 
429 
430 
431 
432 
432 
433 
433 
434 
435 
436 
436 
437 


CONTENTS. 


XXI 


v.— TEE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.    JUNE  ITST. 


CHAPTER   I. 


THE    CONSTITUTION". 

1787. 

PAGE 

The  American  constitution.     Its  forerunners 441 

Its  place  in  the  world's  history.     Individuality  the  character  of  Americans     .  442 

Why  the  English  language  maintained  itself 442 

The  constitution  in  harmony  with  individuality 443 

Freedom  of  the  individual  in  religion 443 

Slavery  an  anomaly 444 

Tripai'titc  division  of  the  powers  of  government 445 

Tripartite  division  of  the  power  of  legislation 446 

How  the  constitution  is  to  be  amended .  447 

The  United  States  a  continental  republic 447 

A  federal  republic  with  complete  powers  of  government         ....  448 

Powers  of  the  states  not  by  grace,  but  of  right 448 

Sovereignty  of  the  law.     Who  arc  the  people  of  the  United  States  ?       .         .  449 

Their  power.     New  states  to  be  admitted  on  equal  terms        ....  450 

Necessity  of  revolution  provided  against 450 

Extending  influence  of  the  federal  republic    .......  450 

The  philosophy  of  the  people 45 1 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    LINGEEING   STATES. 

From  1787  to  the  Second  of  August  1788. 

The  Federalist  and  its  authors 452 

Hamilton  and  a  revenue  tariff 453 

Unreasonableness  of  New  York.  Organization  of  the  federal  republicans  .  454 
Clinton  recommends  the  encouragement  of  manufactures  ....  455 
New  York  legislature  orders  a  state  convention.     The  electors        .         .         .  455 

The  meeting  of  the  convention  deferred  till  June 455 

Division  of  parties  in  New  York 455 

Meeting  of  the  convention.     Livingston  opens  the  debate       ....  456 

Speeches  of  Lansing,  Smith,  and  Hamilton 456 

News  from  New  Hampshire.     Success  in  New  York  depends  on  Virginia        .  457 

Hamilton  declares  his  opinions.     Clinton  replies 457 

News  received  of  the  ratification  by  Virginia 458 

May  New  York  ratify  conditionally  ? 458 

Debate  between  Smith  and  Hamilton.     Lansing  holds  out      .         .         .         .459 

Madison  condemns  a  conditional  ratification 459 

The  opposition  in  New  York  give  way 460 

But  ask  for  a  second  federal  convention.  Joy  of  New  York  city  .  .  .  4G0 
Convention  of  North  Carolina 460 


xxu 


CONTENTS. 


Is  divided  by  parties      .         ;         .         .         . 
Amendments  proposed.     The  decision  postponed 
Conduct  of  llhode  Island        .... 


PAGB 

461 
462 
462 


CHAPTER  irr. 


THE   FEDEEAL   GOVERXilENT    OF   THE   UXITED    STATES. 

Erom  1788  to  the  Fifth  of  May  1789. 


Relations  of  America  to  Europe 

Encroachments  of  England  in  Maine  and  in  the  West     . 
John  Adams  returns  home.     Adams  and  Jefferson 
Moderation  of  the  Pennsylvania  minority.     Albert  Gallatin 
The  Virginia  assembly  demands  a  second  federal  convention 

Lee  and  Grayson  elected  senators 

Connecticut  refuses  a  second  convention.     And  Massachusetts 

And  Pennsylvania.     Dilatoriness  of  congress 

Measures  for  commencing  proceedings  under  the  constitution 

Federal  elections  in  New  York 

In  Virginia.     In  South  Carolina 

Party  divisions.     Debates  in  congress  on  protection 

Washington  sees  danger  to  the  union  from  the  South     . 

His  resolution  on  leaving  Mount  Vernon 

His  reception  at  Alexandria.     At  Baltimore.     In  Delaware 

At  Philadelphia.     At  Trenton.     In  New  York 

His  inauguration.     His  address  to  the  two  houses 

Public  prayers  in  the  church.     Description  of  Washing-ton 

Address  to  him  from  the  senate.     From  the  representatives 

State  of  Europe  at  the  time 

And  of  America 


463 
463 
464 
465 
465 
465 
466 
466 
466 
466 
467 
468 
469 
469 
470 
470 
471 
472 
472 
472 
474 


HISTOET 

OF  THE 

FORMATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

OF   THE 

Ui^flTED  STATES  OF  AMEEIOA. 

IN  FIVE  BOOKS, 

I.— THE  CONFEDERATION. 

II.-ON"  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION. 
III.— THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION. 

IV.— THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE   STATES  IN  JUDGMENT  ON  THE 
CONSTITUTION. 

v.— THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT. 

TOL.   TI. — 1 


THE 


FORMATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 


OF   TH£ 


UJSTITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA. 

m  FIVE  BOOKS. 

BOOK  FIRST. 

THE  CONFEDERATION. 

To  June  1783. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  EETROSPECT.      EAELY   MOVEMENTS   TOWAKD   UNION. 

1643-1781. 

The  order  of  time  brings  us  to  the  most  cheering  act  in 
the  political  history  of  mankind,  when  thirteen  repnbhcs,  of 
which  at  least  three  reached  from  the  sea  to  the  Mississippi, 
formed  themselves  into  one  federal  commonwealth.  There 
was  no  revolt  against  the  past,  but  a  persistent  and  healthy 
progress.  The  sublime  achievement  was  the  work  of  a  people 
led  by  statesmen  of  earnestness,  perseverance,  and  public  spirit, 
instructed  by  the  widest  experience  in  the  forms  of  representa- 
tive government,  and  warmed  by  that  mutual  love  which  pro- 
ceeds from  ancient  connection,  harmonious  effort  in  perils,  and 
common  aspirations. 

Scarcely  one  who  wished  me  good  speed  when  I  first  es- 
sayed to  trace  the  history  of  America  remains  to  greet  me 
with  a  welcome  as  I  near  the  goal.  Deeply  grateful  as  I  am 
for  the  friends  who  rise  up  to  gladden  my  old  age,  their  en- 
couragement must  renew  my  grief  for  those  who  have  gone 
before  me. 

"While  so  much  is  changed  in  the  living  objects  of  personal 
respect  and  affection,  infinitely  greater  are  the  transformations 
in  the  condition  of  the  world.  Power  has  come  to  dwell  with 
every  people,  from  the  Arctic  sea  to  the  Mediterranean,  from 
Portugal  to  the  borders  of  Russia.  From  end  to  end  of  the 
United  States,  the  slave  has  become  a  freeman ;  and  the  va- 
rious forms  of  bondage  have  disappeared  from  European 
Christendom.  Abounding  harvests  of  scientific  discovery  have 
been  garnered  by  numberless  inquisitive  minds,  and  the  wild- 


6  THE  COITFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  . 

est  forces  of  nature  have  been  tanglit  to  become  the  docile 
helpmates  of  man.  The  application  of  steam  to  the  purposes 
of  travel  on  land  and  on  water,  the  employment  of  a  spark  of 
light  as  the  carrier  of  thought  across  continents  and  beneath 
oceans,  have  made  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  one  so- 
ciety. A  journey  round  the  world  has  become  the  pastime  of 
a  holiday  vacation.  The  morning  newspaper  gathers  up  and 
brings  us  the  noteworthy  events  of  the  last  f our-and-twenty 
hours  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  All  states  are  beginning 
to  form  parts  of  one  system.  The  "new  nations,-'  which 
Shakespeare's  prophetic  eye  saw  rising  on  our  eastern  shore, 
dwell  securely  along  two  oceans,  midway  between  their  kin  of 
Great  Britain  on  the  one  side  and  the  oldest  surviving  empire 
on  the  other. 

More  than  two  thousand  years  ago  it  was  truly  said  that 
the  nature  of  justice  can  be  more  easily  discerned  in  a  state 
than  in  one  man.*  It  may  now  be  studied  in  the  collective 
states  of  all  the  continents.  The  ignorance  and  prejudices  that 
come  from  isolation  are  worn  away  in  the  conflict  of  the  forms 
,  of  culture.     We  learn  to  think  the  thought,  to  hope  the  hope 

/  of  mankind.  Former  times  spoke  of  the  dawn  of  civilization 
in  some  one  land ;  we  live  in  the  morning  of  the  world.  Day 
by  day  the  men  who  guide  pubHc  affairs  are  arraigned  before 

=^the  judgment-seat  of  the  race.  A  government  which  adopts 
a  merely  selfish  policy  is  pronounced  to  bo  the  foe  of  the  hu- 
man family.  The  statesman  who  founds  and  builds  up  the 
well-being  of  his  country  on  justice  has  all  the  nations  for  a 
cloud  of  witnesses,  and,  as  one  of  our  own  poets  f  has  said, 
"  The  linked  hemispheres  attest  his  deed."  He  thrills  the 
world  with  joy;  and  man  becomes  of  a  nobler  spirit  as  he 
learns  to  gauge  his  opinions  and  his  acts  by  a  scale  commen- 
surate with  his  nature. 

History  carries  forward  the  study  of  ethics  by  following 
the  footsteps  of  states  from  the  earliest  times  of  which  there 
is  a  recordL  The  individual  who  undertakes  to  capture  truth 
by  solitary  thought  loses  his  way  in  the  mazes  of  speculation, 
or  involves  himself  in  mystic  visions,  so  that  the  arms  which 

*  Plato  in  the  Republic,  Book  ii.    Bckker,  III.,  i.,  78. 
f  Emerson :  The  Adirondacks^  248. 


1643-1754.     EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD  UNION.  7 

he  extends  to  embrace  wliat  are  but  formless  shadows  return 
empty  to  bis  own  breast.     To  find  moral  trutli^  he  must  study 
man  in  action.     The  laws  of  which  reason  is  conscious  can  be 
tested  best  by  experience;  and  inductions  will  be  the  more; 
sure,  the  larger  the  experience  from  which  they  are  drawn.! 
However  great  may  be  the  number  of  those  who  persuade; 
themselves  that  there  is  in  man  nothing  superior  to  himself, 
history  interposes  with  evidence  that  tyranny  and  wrong  lead ' 
inevitably  to  decay;  that  freedom  and  right,  however  hard 
may  be  the  struggle,  always  prove  resistless.     Through  this ; 
assurance  ancient  nations  learn  to  renew  their  youth ;  the  ris- 1 
ing  generation  is  incited  to  take  a  generous  part  in  the  grand 
drama  of  time ;  and  old  age,  staying  itself  upon  sweet  Hope 
as  its  companion  and  cherisher,*  not  bating  a  jot  of  courage, 
nor  seeing  cause  to  argue  against  the  hand  or  the  will  of  a 
higher  power,  stands  waiting  in  the  tranquil  conviction  that' 
the  path  of  humanity  is  still  fresh  with  the  dews  of  morning,^ 
that  the  Redeemer  of  the  nations  Hveth. 

The  colonies,  which  became  one  federal  repubhc,  were 
founded  by  rival  powers.  That  difference  of  origin  and  the 
consequent  antagonism  of  interest  were  the  motives  to  the  first 
American  union.  In  1643  three  JSTew  England  colonies  joined 
in  a  short-lived  "  confederacy "  for  mutual  protection,  espe- 
cially against  the  Dutch ;  each  member  reserving  its  pecuhar 
jurisdiction  and  government,  and  an  equal  vote  in  the  general 
council. 

Common  danger  gave  the  next  impulse  to  collective  action. 
Rivers,  which  were  the  convenient  war-paths  of  the  natives, 
flowed  in  every  direction  from  the  land  of  the  Five  Nations ; 
against  whom,  in  1684,  measures  of  defence,  extending  from 
North  Carolina  to  the  northern  boundary  of  New  England, 
were  concerted.  Later,  in  1751,  South  Carolina  joined  north- 
em  colonies  in  a  treaty  with  the  same  tribes. 

On  the  side  of  England,  James  II.,  using  the  simple  method 
of  the  prerogative  of  an  absolute  king,  began  the  suppression 
of  colonial  legislatures,  and  the  consolidation  of  colonies  under 

*  y\vK€id  ot  Kapdiav  ardWoiffa  yi^porpS^os  ffvvaopu  iKiris.     Pindar  in  Plato, 
Republic,  Book  i.    Bekker,  III.,  i.,  10. 


THE  OOITFEDERATIOK 


I. :  CH.  I. 


the  rule  of  one  governor.  After  tlie  English  revolution  of 
1688  had  gained  consistency,  the  responsible  government  which 
it  established  would  gladly  have  devised  one  uniform  system 
of  colonial  administration ;  and  in  1696  the  newly  created  board 
of  trade,  of  which  John  Locke  was  a  member,  suggested  the 
appointment  of  a  captain-general  of  all  the  forces  on  the  conti- 
nent of  North  America,  with  such  power  as  could  be  exer- 
cised through  the  prerogative  of  a  constitutional  king. 

In  1697  William  Penn  appeared  before  the  board  and  ad- 
vised an  annual  "  congress  "  of  two  delegates  from  each  one  of 
the  American  provinces,  to  determine  by  plurality  of  voices 
the  ways  and  means  for  supporting  their  union,  providing  for 
their  safety,  and  regulating  their  commerce. 

In  1721,  to  ensure  the  needed  co-operation  of  the  colonies 
in  the  rivalry  of  England  with  France  for  !North  American 
territory,  the  plan  attributed  to  Lord  Stairs  provided  for  a  lord- 
lieutenant  or  captain-general  over  them  all ;  and  for  a  general 
council  to  which  each  provincial  assembly  should  send  two  of 
its  members,  electing  one  of  the  two  in  alternate  years.  The 
lord-heutenant  of  the  king,  in  conjunction  with  the  general 
council  on  behalf  of  the  colonies,  was  then  to  allot  the  quotas 
of  men  and  money  which  the  several  assemblies  were  to  raise 
by  laws  of  their  own.  All  these  projects  slumbered  among 
heaps  of  neglected  papers. 

On  the  final  struggle  between  England  and  France,  the 
zeal  of  the  colonists  surpassed  that  of  the  mother  country. 
A  union,  proposed  by  Franklin  in  1754,  would  have  pre- 
served the  domestic  institutions  of  the  several  colonies.  For 
the  affairs  of  the  whole,  a  governor-general  was  to  be  appoint- 
ed from  England,  and  a  legislature,  in  which  the  representa- 
tion would  have  borne  some  proportion  to  population,  was  to 
be  chosen  triennially  by  the  colonies.  This  plan,  which  fore- 
shadowed the  present  constitution  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
and  the  federation  which  with  hope  and  applause  was  lately 
offered  by  rival  ministries  to  South  Africa,  was  at  that  day 
rejected  by  the  British  government  with  abhorrence  and  dis- 
dain. 

The  English  administration  confined  itself  next  to  methods 
for  obtaining  a  colonial  revenue.     For  this  end  Lord  Halifax, 


1754-1776.     EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD  UNION.  9 

in  1754,  advised  that  the  commander-in-chief,  attended  by  one 
commissioner  from  each  colony,  whose  election  should  be  sub- 
ject to  one  negative  of  the  king  by  the  royal  council  and 
another  by  the  royal  governor,  should  adjust  the  quotas  of 
each  colony,  which  were  then  to  be  enforced  by  the  authority 
of  parliament.     This  plan  was  suppressed  by  impending  war. 

Great  Britain  having,  with  the  lavish  aid  of  her  colonies,, 
driven  France  from  Canada,  needed  them  no  more  as  allies  in 
war.  From  17G2  to  1765  the  problem  was  how  to  create  a  grand 
system  of  empire.  James  Otis,  of  Boston,  would  have  had  all 
kingdoms  and  all  outlying  possessions  of  the  crown  wrought 
into  the  flesh  and  blood  and  membership  of  one  organization ; 
but  this  advice,  which  would  have  required  home  govern- 
ments for  every  kingdom  and  for  every  colony,  and,  for  general 
affairs,  one  imperial  parliament  representing  the  whole,  found 
no  favor. 

In  those  days  of  aristocratic  rule,  the  forming  of  a  grand 
plan  of  union  was  assigned  by  the  Bedford  faction  to  George 
Grenville,  a  statesman  bred  to  the  law,  the  impersonation  of 
idolatry  of  the  protective  system  as  the  source  of  British  pros- 
perity, and  of  faith  in  the  omnipotence  of  the  British  parlia- 
ment as  the  groundwork  of  British  hberty.  He  sought  to 
unite  the  thirteen  colonies  in  their  home  administration  by  the 
prerogative ;  in  their  home  legislation  by  a  royal  veto  of  acts 
of  their  own  legislatures ;  in  the  establishment  of  their  general 
revenue  and  the  regulation  of  their  commerce  by  acts  of  the 
British  parliament. 

And  now  came  into  the  view  of  the  world  the  rare  aptitude 
of  the  colonies  for  concert  and  organization.  James  Otis,  in 
the  general  court  of  Massachusetts,  spoke  the  word  for  an 
American  congress,  and  in  1705  nine  of  the  thirteen  met  at 
New  York :  the  British  parliament  aimed  at  consolidating  their 
administration  without  their  own  consent,  and  did  but  force 
them  to  unite  in  the  denial  of  its  power. 

The  truest  and  greatest  Englishman  of  that  century  breasted 
the  heaving  wave  and  by  his  own  force  stayed  it,  but  only  for 
the  moment.  An  aristocratic  house  of  commons,  piqued  and 
vexed  at  its  own  concession,  imposed  a  tax  on  the  colonies  in 
the  least  hateful  form  that  it  could  devise ;  and  in  1773  the 


10  THE   CONFEDERATION-.  b.  i.  ;  ch.  i. 

sound  of  tea-chests,  falling  into  Boston  harbor,  startled  the  nar 
tions  with  the  news  of  a  united  and  resistant  America. 

In  1774  the  British  parliament  thought  proper  to  punish 
Boston  and  attempt  coercion  by  arms  ;  "  delegates  of  the  in- 
habitants "  of  twelve  American  colonies  in  a  continental  con- 
gress acted  as  one  in  a  petition  to  the  king. 

The  petition  was  not  received.  Six  months  before  the 
declaration  of  independence,  Thomas  Paine,  in  "  Common 
Sense,"  had  written  and  published  to  the  world  :  "  IS'othing  but 
a  continental  form  of  government  can  keep  the  peace  of  the 
continent.*  Let  a  continentai.  conference  be  held,t  to  frame 
a  CONTINENTAL  CHAETEE,  drawing  the  line  of  business  and  juris- 
diction between  members  of  congress  and  members  of  as- 
sembly, always  remembering  that  our  strength  and  happiness 
are  continental,  not  provincial.:}:  The  bodies  chosen  conform- 
ably to  said  charter  shall  be  the  legislators  and  governors  of 
this  continent.*  We  have  every  opportunity  and  every  en- 
com^agement  to  form  the  noblest,  purest  constitution  on  the 
face  of  the  earth."  |  The  continental  convention  which  was 
to  frame  the  constitution  for  the  union  was  to  represent  both 
the  colonies  and  the  people  of  each  colony ;  its  members  were 
to  be  chosen,  two  by  congress  from  the  delegation  of  each 
colony,  two  by  the  legislature  of  each  colony  out  of  its  own 
body,  and  five  directly  by  the  people.''' 

Great  Britain  offered  its  transatlantic  dominions  no  unity 
but  under  a  parliament  in  which  they  were  not  represented ; 
the  people  of  thirteen  colonies  by  special  instructions  to  their 
delegates  in  congress,  on  the  fourth  of  July  1776,  declared 
themselves  to  be  states,  independent  and  united,  and  began  the 
search  for  a  fitting  constitution. 

In  their  first  formative  effort  they  missed  the  plain  road  of 
Enghsh  and  American  experience.  They  had  rightly  been 
jealous  of  extending  the  supremacy  of  England,  because  it  was 
a  government  outside  of  themselves;  they  now  applied  that 
jealousy  to  one   another,  forgetting  that  the  general  power 

*  Common  Sense :  original  edition  of  8  January  1776,  p.  51. 

f  Ibid.,  55.  X  Ibid.,  56.  »  Ibid.,  56. 

I  Appendix,  annexed  to  second  edition  of  Common  Sense,  14  February  IIIQ. 

^  Common  Sense,  original  edition,  65. 


1776-1780.     EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD   UNION.  H 

would  be  in  their  own  hands.  Joseph  Hawley  of  Massachu- 
setts had,  in  ]S"ovember  1775,  advised  annual  parliaments  of  two 
houses ;  the  committee  for  framing  the  confederation,  misled 
partly  by  the  rooted  distrust  for  which  the  motive  had  ceased, 
and  partly  by  erudition  which  studied  Hellenic  councils  and 
leagues  as  well  as  later  confederacies,  took  for  its  pattern  the 
constitution  of  the  United  Provinces,  with  one  house  and  no 
central  power  of  final  decision.  These  evils  were  nearly  fatal 
to  the  United  Provinces  themselves,  although  every  one  of 
them  could  be  reached  by  a  messenger  within  a  day's  journey ; 
and  he^e  was  a  continent  of  states  which  could  not  be  consulted 
without  the  loss  of  many  months,  and  would  ever  tend  to  an- 
archy from  the  want  of  agreement  in  their  sej)arate  delibera- 
tions^ 

Hopeless  of  a  good  result  from  the  deliberations  of  con- 
gress on  a  confederation,  Edward  .Hutledge,  in  August  1778, 
in  a  letter  to  Pobert  R.  Livingston,  avowed  his  readiness  to 
"  propose  that  the  states  should  appoint  a  special  congress,  to 
be  composed  of  new  members,  for  this  purpose."  * 

The  necessities  of  the  war  called  into  being,  north  of  the 
Potomac,  successive  conventions  of  a  cluster  of  states.  In  Au- 
gust 1780,  a  convention  of  the  ISTew  England  states  at  Boston 
declared  for  a  more  solid  and  permanent  union  with  one  su- 
preme head,  and  "  a  congress  competent  for  the  government 
of  all  those  common  and  national  affairs  which  do  not  nor  can 
come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  particular  states."  At  the 
same  time  it  issued  an  invitation  for  a  convention  of  the 
ISTew  England  states,  New  York,  and  "  others  that  shall  think 
proper  to  join  them,"  f  to  meet  at  Hartford. 

The  legislature  of  l^ew  York  approved  the  measure. J 
"  Our  embarrassments  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,"  such 
was  the  message  of  Governor  George  Clinton  on  the  fourth  of 
September,  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  "  are  chiefly  to  be 
attributed  to  a  defect  of  power  in  those  who  ought  to  exercise 
a  supreme  jurisdiction ;  for,  while  congress  only  recommends 
and  the  different  states  deliberate  upon  the  propriety  of  the 

*  Rutledge  to  Livingston,  August  1776.     MS. 

f  Hough's  Convention  of  New  England  States  at  Boston,  50,  52. 

X  Duane  to  Washington,  19  September  1780.     Letters  to  Washington,  iii.,  92. 


12  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  i. 

recommendation,  we  cannot  expect  a  union  of  force  or  coun- 
cil." The  senate  answered  in  the  words  of  PhiUp  Schuyler : 
"  We  perceive  the  defects  of  the  present  system,  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  supreme  and  coercive  power  in  the  government  of 
these  states ;  and  are  persuaded  that,  unless  congress  are  au- 
thorized to  direct  uncontrollably  the  operations  of  w^ar  and 
enabled  to  enforce  a  compliance  with  their  requisitions,  the 
common  force  can  never  be  properly  united."  * 

Meantime  Alexander  Hamilton  in  swiftness  of  thought 
outran  all  that  was  possible.  Early  in  September,  in  a  private 
letter  to  James  Duane,  then  a  member  of  congress,  he  took  up 
the  proposal,  which,  nearly  five  years  before,  Thomas  Paine 
had  made  known,  and  advised  that  a  convention  of  all  the 
states  should  meet  on  the  first  of  the  following  November, 
with  full  authority  to  conclude  finally  and  set  in  motion  a 
"  vigorous  "  general  confederation.f  His  ardor  would  have 
surprised  the  people  into  greater  happiness  without  giving 
them  an  opportunity  to  view  and  reject  his  project.:}: 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  the  author  of  "  Common  Sense  " 
himself,  publishing  in  Philadelphia  a  tract  asserting  the  right 
of  the  United  States  to  the  vacant  western  territory,  closed  his 
argument  for  the  "  Public  Good  "  with  these  words :  "  I  take 
the  opportunity  of  renewing  a  hint  which  I  formerly  threw 
out  in  the  pamphlet  '  Common  Sense,'  and  which  the  several 
states  will,  sooner  or  later,  see  the  convenience,  if  not  the  ne- 
cessity, of  adopting;  which  is,  that  of  electing  a  continental 
convention,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  continental  constitu- 
tion, defining  and  describing  the  powers  of  congress.  To  have 
them  marked  out  legally  will  give  additional  energy  to  the 
whole,  and  a  new  confidence  to  the  several  parts."  * 

"  Call  a  convention  of  the  states,  and  establish  a  congress 
upon  a  constitutional  footing,"  wrote  Greene,  after  taking 
command  of  the  southern  army,  to  a  member  of  congress.  1 

On  the  eleventh  of  November  able  representatives  fron^ 

*  Hough's  Convention,  63-65. 

f  Hamilton  to  Duane,  3  September  1*780.     Hamilton,  i.,  157. 
I  Compare  McHenry  to  Hamilton.     Hamilton,  i.,  411. 

*  Thomas  Paine's  Public  Good.     Original  edition,  38. 
I  Johnson's  Life  of  Greene,  ii.,  446. 


1780-1781.     EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD  UNION".  13 

eacli  of  the  four  'New  England  states  and  JSTew  York — John 
T.  Gilman  of  New  Hampshire,  Thomas  Gushing,  Azor  Orne, 
and  George  Partridge  of  Massachusetts,  William  Bradford  of 
Khode  Island,  Eliphalet  Dyer  and  William  Williams  of  Con- 
necticut, John  Sloss  Hobart  and  Egbert  Benson  of  New  York 
— assembled  at  Hartford.*  ^  The  lead  in  the  convention  was 
taken  by  the  delegates  from  New  York,  Hobart,  a  judge  of  its 
supreme  court,  and  Benson,  its  attorney-general. f  At  their 
instance  it  was  proposed,  as  a  foundation  for  a  safe  system  of 
finance,  to  provide  by  taxes  or  duties  a  certain  and  inalien- 
able revenue,  to  discharge  the  interest  on  any  funded  part  of 
the  public  debt,  and  on  future  loans.  As  it  had  proved  im- 
possible to  get  at  the  valuation  of  lands,  congress  should  be 
empowered  to  aj)portion  taxes  on  the  states  according  to  their 
number  of  inhabitants,  black  as  well  as  white.  They  then 
prepared  a  circular  letter  to  all  the  states,  in  which  they  said : 
"  Our  embarrassments  arise  from  a  defect  in  the  present  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States.  All  government  supposes  the 
power  of  coercion ;  this  power,  however,  never  did  exist  in  the 
general  government  of  the  continent,  or  has  never  been  exer- 
cised. Under  these  circumstances,  the  resources  and  force  of 
the  country  can  never  be  properly  united  and  drawn  forth. 
The  states  individually  considered,  while  they  endeavor  to 
retain  too  much  of  their  independence,  may  finally  lose  the 
whole.  By  the  expulsion  of  the  enemy  we  may  be  emanci- 
pated from  the  tyranny  of  Great  Britain ;  we  shall,  however, 
be  without  a  solid  hope  of  peace  and  freedom  unless  we  are 
properly  cemented  among  ourselves." 

The  proceedings  of  this  convention  were  sent  to  every  state 
in  the  union,  to  Washington,  and  to  congress.  J  They  were 
read  in  congress  on  the  tweKth  of  December  1780 ;  and  were 

*  The  narac3  of  all  the  delegates  are  given  in  Papers  of  the  Old  Congress, 
xxxiii.,  391,  MS. 

f  That  New  York  took  the  lead  appears  from  comparison  of  the  message  of 
Clinton  in  September  and  the  circular  letter  of  the  convention ;  and  from  the 
public  tribute  of  Hamilton  to  the  New  York  delegates  in  the  presence  of  Hobart. 
Hamilton,  ii.,  360. 

X  Papers  of  the  Old  Congress,  xxxiii.,  391,  containing  copies  of  the  credentials 
of  the  commissioners,  the  resolutions  of  the  convention,  and  its  letters  to  the 
several  states,  to  congress,  and  to  Washington.     MS. 


14  THE  CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  on.  i. 

referred  to  a  committee  of  five,  on  which  were  John  Wither- 
spoon  and  James  Madison,*  the  master  and  his  pupil.  In  the 
same  days  Pennsylvania  instructed  its  delegates  in  congress 
that  imposts  on  trade  were  absolutely  necessary ;  and,  in  order 
to  prevent  any  state  from  taking  advantage  of  a  neighbor, 
congress  should  recommend  to  the  several  states  in  union  a 
system  of  imposts.f  Before  the  end  of  1Y80  the  legislative 
council  and  general  assembly  of  JSTew  Jersey,  while  they  in- 
sisted "  that  the  rights  of  every  state  in  the  union  should  be 
strictly  maintained,"  declared  that  "  congress  represent  the 
federal  republic."  J  Thus  early  was  that  name  applied  to  the 
United  States.  Both  branches  of  the  legislature  of  J^ew  York, 
which  at  that  time  was  "  as  well  disposed  a  state  as  any  in  the 
union,"  *  approved  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  as  pro- 
moting the  interest  of  the  continent.  | 

With  the  year  1781,  when  the  ministry  of  Great  Britain 
believed  themselves  in  possession  of  the  three  southernmost 
states  and  were  cheering  Cornwallis  to  complete  his  glory  by 
the  conquest  of  Virginia ;  when  congress  was  confessedly  with- 
out the  means  to  recover  the  city  of  New  York ;  when  a  large 
contingent  from  France  was  at  Newport,  serious  efforts  for 
the  creation  of  a  federal  republic  began,  and  never  ceased  until 
it  was  established.  The  people  of  New  York,  from  motives 
of  the  highest  patriotism,  had  already  ceded  its  claims  to  west- 
em  lands.  The  territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio,  which  Yir- 
ginia  had  conquered,  was  on  the  second  of  January  ^  surren- 
dered to  the  United  States  of  America.  For  this  renunciation 
one  state  and  one  state  only  had  made  delay.  On  the  twenty- 
ninth,  congress  received  the  news  so  long  anxiously  waited  for, 
that  Maryland  by  a  resolution  of  both  branches  of  her  legis- 
lature had  acceded  to  the  confederation,  seven  members  only 
in  the  house  voting  in  the  negative.  Duane,  who  had  been 
taught  by  "Washington  that  "  greater  powers  to  congress  were 
indispensably  necessary  to  the  well-being  and  good  government 

*  Endorsement  by  Charles  Thomson,  secretary  of  congress.     MS. 
f  Journals  o'  Assembly,  564. 

X  Representation  and  Remonstrance,  printed  in  Mulford's  New  Jersey,  469 
470.  #  Washington  to  Jefferson,  1  August  1786.     Sparks,  ix.,  186. 

I  Journals  of  Assembly,  91,  93. 
^  Journal  of  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  79. 


1781.  EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD   UNION".  15 

of  public  affairs,"  "^  instantly  addressed  him  :  "  Let  ns  devote 
this  day  to  joy  and  congratulation,  since  by  the  accomplishment 
of  our  federal  union  we  are  become  a  nation.  In  a  political 
view  it  is  of  more  real  importance  than  a  victory  over  all  our 
enemies.  "We  shall  not  fail  of  taking  advantage  of  the  favor- 
able temper  of  the  states  and  recommending  for  ratification 
such  additional  articles  as  will  give  vigor  and  authority  to  gov- 
ernment." f  The  enthusiasm  of  the  moment  could  not  hide 
the  truth,  that  without  amendments  the  new  system  would 
struggle  vainly  for  life.  Washington  answered :  "Our  affairs 
will  not  put  on  a  different  aspect  unless  congress  is  vested  with, 
or  will  assume,  greater  powers  than  they  exert  at  present."  :j: 

To  John  Sullivan  of  New  Hampshire,  another  member  of 
congress,  "Washington  wrote :  "  I  never  expect  to  see  a  happy 
termination  of  the  war,  nor  great  national  concerns  well  con- 
ducted in  peace,  till  there  is  something  more  than  a  recom- 
mendatory power  in  congress.  The  last  words,  therefore,  of 
my  letter  and  the  first  wish  of  my  heart  concur  in  favor  of 
it."# 

The  legislature  of  Maryland  swiftly  transformed  its  resolu- 
tion into  an  act.  The  delegates  having  full  authority,  in  the 
presence  of  congress,  on  the  first  day  of  March,  subscribed  the 
articles  of  confederation,  and  its  complete,  formal,  and  final 
ratification  by  all  the  United  States  was  announced  to  the  pub- 
lic ;  to  the  executives  of  the  several  states ;  to  the  American 
ministers  in  Europe,  and  through  them  to  the  courts  at  which 
they  resided;  to  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  France  in 
America  4  to  the  commander-in-chief,  and  through  him  to  the 
army. II  Clinton  communicated  "  the  important  event"  to  the 
legislature  of  New  York,  adding  :  "  This  great  national  com- 
pact establishes  our  union."  "^  But  the  completion  of  the  con- 
federation was  the  instant  revelation  of  its  insufficiency,  and 
the  summons  to  the  people  of  America  to  form  a  better  con- 
stitution. 

*  Washington  to  James  Duane,  26  December  17S0.     MS. 
f  Jivmes  Duane  to  Washington,  29  January  1781. 

X  Washington  to  Duane,  19  February  1781. 

*  Washington  to  Sullivan,  4  February  1781.     Sparks,  vii.,  402. 
I  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  681,  682,  591. 

^  Journal  of  New  York  Assembly,  for  19  March  1781. 


16  THE  CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  i. 

"Washington  rejoiced  that  Virginia  had  relinquished  her 
claim  to  the  land  south  of  the  great  lakes  and  north-west  of 
the  Ohio,  which,  he  said,  "  for  fertility  of  soil,  pleasantness  of 
climate,  and  other  natural  advantages,  is  equal  to  any  known 
tract  of  country  of  the  same  extent  in  the  universe."  *  He 
was  pleased  that  Maryland  had  acceded  to  the  confederation ; 
but  he  saw  no  ground  to  rest  satisfied. 

On  taking  command  of  the  army  in  Massachusetts  in  1775, 
he  at  once  discriminated  between  the  proper  functions  of  indi- 
vidual colonies  and  "  tliat  power  and  weight  which  ought  of 
right  to  belong  only  to  the  whole  ; "  f  and  he  applied  to  Eich- 
ard  Henry  Lee,  then  in  congress,  for  aid  in  establishing  the 
distinction.  In  the  following  years  he  steadily  counselled  the 
formation  of  one  continental  army.  As  a  faithful  laborer  in 
the  cause,  as  a  man  injuring  his  private  estate  without  the 
smallest  personal  advantage,  as  one  who  wished  the  prosperity 
of  America  most  devoutly,  he  in  the  last  days  of  1778  had 
pleaded  with  the  statesmen  of  Yirginia  for  that  which  to  him 
was  more  than  life.  He  called  on  Benjamin  Harrison,  then 
speaker  of  the  house  of  delegates,  on  Mason,  AYy the,  Jefferson, 
Nicholas,  Pendleton,  and  J^elson,  "not  to  be  satisfied  with 
places  in  their  own  state  while  the  common  interests  of  Ameri- 
ca were  mouldering  and  sinking  into  irretrievable  ruin,  but  to 
attend  to  the  momentous  concerns  of  an  empire."  :j:  "  Till 
the  great  national  interest  is  fixed  upon  a  solid  basis,"  so  he 
wrote,  in  March  1779,  to  George  Mason,  "I  lament  the  fatal 
policy  of  the  states  of  employing  their  ablest  men  at  home. 
How  useless  to  put  in  fine  order  the  smallest  parts  of  a  clock 
unless  the  great  spring  which  is  to  set  the  wliole  in  motion  is 
well  attended  to !  Let  this  voice  call  forth  you,  Jefferson,  and 
others  to  save  their  country."  *  But  now,  with  deeper  emo- 
tion, he  turns  to  his  OAvn  state  as  he  had  done  in  the  gloomy 
winter  of  1778.  He  has  no  consolation  but  in  the  hope  of  a 
good  federal  government.  His  growing  desire  has  the  charac- 
ter of  the  forces  of  nature,  which  from  the  opening  year  in- 
crease in  power  till  the  earth  is  renewed. 

*  Wasliington  to  Sullivan,  4  February  1781.     Sparks,  vii,,  400. 

f  "Washington  to  Richard  H.  Lee,  29  August  lYYS.     Sparks,  iii,,  68,  69. 

X  Sparks,  vl,  150.  *  See  above,  v.,  298,  319. 


1781.  EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD   UjSTION.  I7 

A  constant,  close  observer  of  wliat  Vv^as  done  bj  Yirginia, 
lie  beld  in  mind  that  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  December 
1Y79,  on  occasion  of  some  unwise  proceedings  of  congress,  she 
had  resolved  "  that  the  legislature  of  this  commonwealth  are 
greatly  alarmed  at  the  assumption  of  power  lately  exercised  by 
congress.  While  the  right  of  recommending  measures  to  each 
state  by  congress  is  admitted,  we  contend  for  that  of  judging 
of  their  utility  and  expediency,  and  of  course  either  to  approve 
or  reject.  Making  any  state  answerable  for  not  agreeing  to 
any  of  its  recommendations  would  establish  a  dangerous  prece- 
dent against  the  authority  of  the  legislature  and  the  sovereignty 
of  the  separate  states."  * 

This  interposition  of  the  Yirginia  legislature  so  haunted 
"Washington's  mind  that  he  felt  himself  more  particularly  im- 
pelled to  address  with  freedom  men  of  whose  abilities  and  judg- 
ments he  wished  to  avail  himself.  He  thoroughly  understood 
the  obstinacy  and  strength  of  opinion  which  he  must  encounter 
and  overcome.  His  native  state,  reaching  to  the  Mississippi  and 
dividing  the  South  from  the  T^orth,  held,  from  its  geographical 
place,  its  numbers,  and  the  influence  of  its  statesmen,  a  power 
of  obstructing  union  such  as  belonged  to  no  other  state.  Pie 
must  persuade  it  to  renounce  some  share  of  its  individual  sov- 
ereignty and  forego  "  the  liberty  to  reject  or  alter  any  act  of 
congress  which  in  a  full  representation  of  states  has  been  sol- 
emnly_debatgd-aad,. decided  on,"  f  or  there  is  no  hope  of  con- 
solidating the  union.  His  position  was  one  of  extreme  deli- 
cacy ;  for  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  army  which  could  alone 
be  employed  to  enforce  the  requisitions  of  congress.  He  there- 
fore selected,  as  the  Virginians  to  whom  he  could  safely  ad- 
dress himseK,  the  three  great  civilians  whom  that  common- 
wealth had  appointed  to  codify  its  laws  and  adapt  them  to  the 
new  state  of  society  consequent  on  independence,  Jefferson, 
its  governor,  Pendleton,  the  president  of  its  court  of  appeals, 
and  Wythe,  its  spotless  chancellor.  J 

*  Journal  of  House  of  Delegates  of  Virginia,  for  24  December  I'ZVO,  103. 

f  Washington  to  James  Duane,  26  December  I'TSO. 

I  Washington  to  Jefferson,  Pendleton,  and  Wythe,  Madison  Papers,  83,  Gil- 
pin's edition.  The  date  of  the  letter  is  not  given.  It  was  written  soon  after  the 
accession  of  Maryland  to  the  confederation ;  probably  in  February,  before  the  mid- 
dle of  the  month,  which  was  the  time  fixed  for  his  departure  from  New  Windsor 

VOL.    VI. — 2 


18  THE   CONFEDERATIOK  b.  i.  ;  ch.  i. 

"  The  alliance  of  tlie  states,"  he  said,  "  is  now  complete. 
If  the  powers  granted  to  the  respective  body  of  the  states  are 
inadequate,  the  defects  should  be  considered  and  remedied. 
Danger  may  spring  from  delay ;  good  will  result  from  a  timely 
application  of  a  remedy.  The  present  temper  of  the  states  is 
friendly  to  the  establishment  of  a  lasting  union  ;  the  moment 
should  be  improved ;  if  suffered  to  pass  away  it  may  never 
return,  and,  after  gloriously  and  successfully  contending  against 
the  usurpations  of  Britain,  we  may  fall  a  prey  to  our  own  fol- 
lies and  disputes."  He  argued  for  the  power  of  compelling 
the  states  to  comply  with  the  requisitions  for  men  and  money 
agreeably  to  their  respective  quotas ;  adding :  \'  It  wotrld  give 
me  concern  should  it  be  thought  of  me  that  I  am  desirous  of 
enlarging  the  powers  of  congress  unnecessarily ;  I  declare  to 
God,  my  only  aim  is  the  general  good."  And  he  promised 
to  make  his  views  known  to  others  besides  the  three. 

His  stepson,  John  Parke  Custis,  who  was  just  entering  into 
public  life,  he  thus  instructed :  "  The  fear  of  giving  sufficient 
powers  to  congress  is  futile.  Under  its  present  constitution, 
each  assembly  will  be  annihilated,  and  we  must  once  more 
return  to  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  and  be  made  to 
kiss  the  rod  preparing  for  our  correction.  A  nominal  head, 
which  at  present  is  but  another  name  for  congress,  will  no 
longer  do.  That  honorable  body,  after  hearing  the  interests 
and  views  of  the  several  states  fairly  discussed  and  explained 
by  their  respective  representatives,  ];nust  dictate,  and  not  merely 
recommend."  * 

To  another  Yirginian,  Joseph  Jones  of  King  George  coun- 
ty, whom  he  regarded  with  sincere  affection  and  perfect  trust, 
he  wrote :  "  Without  a  controlling  j)ower  in  congress  it  will 
be  impossible  to  carry  on  the  war ;  and  we  shall  speedily  be 

for  Newport.  The  dates  of  the  letters  of  1781,  informing  him  of  the  accession 
of  Maryland,  were,  from  Duanc,  29  January,  MS. ;  from  Sullivan,  29  January,  MS. ; 
fi-om  Matthews,  30  January.  Letters  to  Washington,  iii.,  218.  Washington's 
answer  to  Sullivan  is  4  February,  Sparks,  vii.,  402 ;  to  Matthews,  14  February. 
"  The  confederation  being  now  closed  will,  I  trust,  enable  congress  to  speak  de- 
cisively in  their  requisitions,"  etc.  :MS.  On  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth,  Wash- 
ington was  preparing  to  leave  for  Newport ;  an  unexpected  letter  from  Rocham- 
beau  detained  him  in  camp  till  the  second  of  March.  Sparks,  vii.,  446,  note. 
*  Washington  to  John  Parke  Custis,  28  February  IVSl.    Sparks,  vii.,  440-444. 


1781.  EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD   UNION.  19 

thirteen  distinct  states,  each  pursuing  its  local  interests,  till 
they  are  annihilated  in  a  general  crash.  The  fable  of  the 
bunch  of  sticks  may  well  be  applied  to  us."  '^'  In  a  like  strain 
he  addressed  other  trusty  correspondents  and  friends,  f  His 
v/ants  as  commander-in-chief  did  not  confine  his  attention  to 
the  progress  of  the  war ;  he  aimed  at  nothing  less  than  an  en- 
during government  for  all  times  of  war  and  peace. 

As  soon  as  the  new  form  of  union  was  proclaimed,  congress 
saw  its  want  of  real  authority,  and  sought  a  way  to  remedy  the 
defect.  A  report  by  Madison,  from  a  committee,  J  was  com- 
pleted on  the  twelfth  and  read  in  congress  on  the  sixteenth  of 
March ;  and  this  was  its  reasoning :  "  The  articles  of  confeder- 
ation, which  declare  that  every  state  shall  abide  by  the  deter- 
minations of  congress,  imply  a  general  power  vested  in  con- 
gress to  enforce  them  and  carry  them  into  effect.  The  United 
States  in  congress  assembled,  being  desirous  as  far  as  possible 
to  cement  and  invigorate  the  federal  union,  recommend  to  the 
legislature  of  every  state  to  give  authority  to  employ  the  force 
of  the  United  States  as  well  by  sea  as  by  land  to  compel  the 
states  to  fulfil  their  federal  engagements."  * 

Madison  enclosed  to  Jefferson  a  copy  of  his  report,  and,  on 
account  of  the  delicacy  and  importance  of  the  subject,  ex- 
pressed a  wish  for  his  judgment  on  it  before  it  should  undergo 
the  final  decision  of  congress.  No  direct  reply  from  him  is 
preserved,  ||  but  Joseph  Jones,  who,  after  a  visit  to  Richmond, 

*  Washington  to  Joseph  Jones,  24  March  1781.     MS. 

f  Compare  his  letters  to  R,  R.  Livingston  of  New  York,  31  January  1781 — 
Sparks,  vii.,  891 ;  to  John  Sullivan  of  New  Hampshire,  4  February  1781 — Sparks 
vii.,  401,  402;  to  John  Matthews  of  South  Caroh'na,  14  February  1781,  MS.;  to 
James  Duane  of  New  York,  19  February  1781,  MS. ;  to  Philip  Schuyler  of  New 
York,  20  February  1781,  MS.  ;  to  John  Parke  Custis  of  Virginia,  28  February 
1781 — Sparks,  vii,,  442;  to  William  Gordon,  in  Massachusetts,  9  March  1781 — 
Sparks,  vii ,  448 ;  to  Joseph  Jones  of  King  George,  Virginia,  24  March  1781,  MS. ; 
to  John  Armstrong  of  Pennsylvania,  26  March  1781 — Sparks,  vii.,  403. 

:}:  Reports  of  committees  on  increasing  the  powers  of  congress,  p.  19.     MS. 

*  Madison  Papers,  Gilpin's  edition,  88-90.  Reports  of  committees,  20,  22. 
MS.  Madison  was  a  member  of  the  committee  to  which  were  referred  the  papers 
from  the  Hartford  convention  of  November  1780.  That  committee,  on  the  six- 
teenth of  February  1781,  made  a  report,  which  was  referred  back  to  it.  Whether 
Madison's  report  of  the  twelfth  of  March  proceeded  from  that  committee,  the  im- 
perfect record  does  not  show. 

I!  None  of  the  letters  of  Jefferson  to  Madison  of  this  year  have  been  preserved. 


20  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i. ;  en.  i. 

was  again  in  Philadelpliia  about  the  middle  of  May,  gave  to 
Madison  a  copy  of  the  letter  of  Washington  to  Jefferson  and 
his  two  associates.*  There  were  no  chances  that  the  proposal 
of  Madison  would  be  approved  by  any  one  state,  yet  on  the 
second  of  May  it  was  referred  to  a  grand  committee ;  that  is, 
to  a  committee  of  one  from  each  state.f  On  the  eighteenth 
the  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne,  then  the  French  minister  in 
America,  sent  this  dispatch  to  Yergennes :  "  There  is  a  feeling 
to  reform  the  constitution  of  congress ;  but  the  articles  of  con- 
federation, defective  as  they  are,  cost  a  year  and  a  half  of  labor 
and  of  debates ;  a  change  will  not  encounter  less  diflSculty,  and 
it  appears  to  me  there  is  more  room  for  desire  than  for  hope."  j;. 
Even  while  he  was  writing,  the  movement  for  reform  re- 
ceived a  new  impulse.  In  a  pamphlet  dated  the  twenty-fourth, 
and  dedicated  to  the  congress  of  the  United  States  of  America 
and  to  the  assembly  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  William 
Barton  *  insisted  that  congress  should  "  not  be  left  with  the 
mere  shadow  of  sovereign  authority,  without  the  right  of 
exacting  obedience  to  their  ordinances,  and  destitute  of  the 
means  of  executing  their  resolves."  To  remedy  this  evil  he 
did  not  look  to  congress  itself,  but  "  indicated  the  necessity  of 
their  calling  a  continental  convention,  for  the  express  purpose 
of  ascertaining,  defining,  enlarging,  and  limiting  the  duties 
and  powers  of  their  constitution."  I  This  is  the  third  time 
that  the  suggestion  of  a  general  constituent  convention  was 
brought  before  the  country  by  the  press  of  Philadelphia. 

*  Madison  Papers,  Gilpin's  edition,  81. 

f  Reports  of  committees  on  increasing  the  powers  of  congress,  22.     MS. 
X  Luzerne  to  Vergennes,  18  May  1Y81,    MS. 

*  Not  by  Pelatiab  Webster,  as  stated  by  Madison.  Madison  Papers,  Gilpin's 
edition,  706;  Elliot's  stereotyped  reprint,  117.  First:  at  a  later  period,  Webster 
collected  his  pamphlets  in  a  volume,  and  this  one  is  not  among  them ;  a  dis- 
claimer which,  under  the  circumstances,  is  conclusive.  The  style  of  this  pamphlet 
of  1781  is  totally  unlike  the  style  of  Pelatiah  Webster.  Through  my  friend  F. 
D.  Stone  of  Philadelphia  I  have  seen  the  bill  for  printing  the  pamphlet ;  it  was 
made  out  against  William  Barton  and  paid  by  him.  Further :  Barton  from  time 
to  time  wrote  pamphlets,  of  which,  on  a  careful  comparison,  the  style,  language, 
and  forms  of  expression  are  found  to  correspond  to  this  pamphlet  published  in 
1781.    Without  doubt  it  was  written  by  William  Barton. 

I  Observations  on  the  Nature  and  Use  of  Paper  Credit,  etc.,  Philadelphia, 
1781,  37.    The  preface  of  the  pamphlet  is  dated  24  May  1781. 


1781.  EAKLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD  UNION.  21 

The  grand  committee  of  thirteen  delayed  their  report  till 
the  twentieth  of  July,  and  then  only  expressed  a  wish  to  give 
congress  power  in  time  of  war  to  lay  an  embargo  at  least  for 
sixty  days,  and  to  appoint  receivers  of  the  money  of  the  United 
States  as  soon  as  collected  by  state  officers.  By  their  advice 
the  business  was  then  referred  to  a  committee  of  three.* 

Day  seemed  to  break  when,  on  the  twentieth  of  July,  Ed- 
mund Eandolph,  who  had  just  brought  from  Yirginia  the 
news  of  its  disposition  to  strengthen  the  general  government, 
OHver  Ellsworth  of  Connecticut,  and  James  M.  Yarnum  of 
Rhode  Island,  three  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  their  states,  were 
selected  to  "prepare  an  exposition  of  the  confederation,  to 
devise  a  plan  for  its  complete  execution,  and  to  present  sup- 
plemental articles."  f 

In  support  of  the  proceedings  of  congress,  Hamilton,  during 
July  and  August,  published  a  series  of  papers  which  he  called 
"  The  Continentalist."  "  There  is  hardly  a  man,"  said  he, 
"who  will  not  acknowledge  the  confederation  unequal  to  a 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  or  to  the  preservation  of  the 
union  in  peace.  The  federal  government,  too  weak  at  first, 
will  continually  grow  weaker.":]:  "Already  some  of  the 
states  have  evaded  or  refused  the  demands  of  congress ;  the 
currency  is  depreciated ;  public  credit  is  at  the  lowest  ebb ;  our 
army  deficient  in  numbers  and  unprovided  with  everything ; 
the  enemy  making  an  alarming  progress  in  the  southern  states ; 
Cornwallis  still  formidable  to  Yirginia.  As  in  explanation  of 
our  embarrassments  nothing  can  be  alleged  to  the  disaffection 
of  the  people,  we  must  have  recourse  to  impolicy  and  misman- 
agement in  their  rulers.  We  ought,  therefore,  not  only  to 
strain  every  nerve  to  render  the  present  campaign  as  decisive 
as  possible,  but  we  ought,  without  delay,  to  enlarge  the  powers 
of  congress.  Every  plan  of  which  this  is  not  the  foundation 
will  be  illusory.  The  separate  exertions  of  the  states  will 
never  sufiice.  I^othing  but  a  well-proportioned  exertion  of 
the  resources  for  the  whole,  under  the  direction  of  a  common 

*  Report  of  the  grand  committee.     MS. 
f  Report  of  the  committee  of  three. 

X  Continentalist,     Reprinted   in  J.  C.  Hamilton's  edition  of  the   Federalist, 
cxl.,  cxli.,  cxlv.,  cxlvi.,  cxivii.,  cxlviii. 


22  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  ch.  i. 

council  with  power  sufficient  to  give  efficacy  to  their  resolu- 
tions, can  preserve  us  from  being  a  conquered  people  now,  or 
can  make  us  a  happy  one  hereafter." 

The  committee  of  three,  Randolph,  Ellsworth,  and  Yar- 
nuni,  made  their  report  on  the  twenty-second  of  August. 
They  declined  to  prepare  an  exposition  of  the  confederation, 
because  such  a  comment  would  be  voluminous  if  co-extensive 
with  the  subject ;  and,  in  the  enumeration  of  powers,  omissions 
would  become  an  argument  against  their  existence.  With  pro- 
fessional exactness  they  explained  in  twenty-one  cases  the 
"  manner "  in  which  "  the  confederation  required  execution." 
As  to  dehnquent  states,  they  advised,  "  That — as  America  be- 
came a  confederate  republic  to  crush  the  present  and  future 
foes  of  her  independence ;  as  of  this  republic  a  general  coun- 
cil is  a  necessary  organ ;  and  as,  without  the  extension  of  its 
power,  war  may  receive  a  fatal  inclination  and  peace  be  ex- 
posed to  daily  convulsions — it  be  resolved  to  recommend  to 
the  several  states  to  authorize  the  United  States  in  congress 
assembled  to  lay  embargoes  and  prescribe  rules  for  impressing 
property  in  time  of  war ;  to  appoint  collectors  of  taxes  re- 
quired by  congress ;  to  admit  new  states  with  the  consent  of 
any  dismembered  state ;  to  establish  a  consular  system  without 
reference  to  the  states  individually ;  to  distrain  the  property  of 
a  state  delinquent  in  its  assigned  proportion  of  men  and  money ; 
and  to  vary  the  rules  of  suffrage  in  congress  so  as  to  decide 
the  most  important  questions  by  the  agreement  of  two  thirds 
of  the  United  States."  * 

It  was  further  proposed  to  make  a  representation  to  the 
several  states  of  the  necessity  for  these  supplemental  powers, 
and  of  pursuing  in  their  development  one  uniform  plan. 

At  the  time  when  this  report  was  made  the  country  was 
rousing  its  energies  for  a  final  campaign.  New  England  with 
its  militia  assisted  to  man  the  lines  near  l!^ew  York ;  the  com- 
mander-in-chief with  his  army  had  gone  to  meet  Comwallis  in 
Yirginia ;  and  Greene  was  recovering  the  three  southernmost 
states.  Few  persons  in  that  moment  of  suspense  cared  to  read 
the  political  essays  of  Hamilton,  and  he  hastened  to  take  part 
in  the  war  under  the  command  of  Lafayette.     The  hurry  of 

*  Reports  on  increasing  the  powers  of  congress. 


1781.  EARLY  MOVEMENTS  TOWARD  UNION.  23 

crowded  hours  left  no  opportunity  for  deliberation  on  tlie  re- 
form of  tlie  constitution.  Moreover,  the  committee  of  three, 
while  they  recognised  the  duty  of  obedience  on  the  part  of  the 
states  to  -the  requisitions  of  congress,  knew  no  way  to  force 
men  into  the  ranks  of  the  army,  or  distrain  the  property  of  a 
state.  There  could  be  no  coercion  ;  for  every  state  was  a  de- 
linquent. Had  it  been  otherwise,  the  coercion  of  a  state  by 
force  of  arms  is  civil  war,  and,  from  the  weakness  of  the  con- 
federacy and  the  strength  of  organization  of  each  separate 
state,  the  attempt  at  coercion  would  have  been  disunion. 

Yet  it  was  necessary  for  the  public  mind  to  pass  through 
this  process  of  reasoning.  The  conviction  that  the  confederacy 
could  propose  no  remedy  for  its  weakness  but  the  impractica- 
ble one  of  the  coercion  of  sovereign  states  compelled  the  search 
for  a  really  efficient  and  more  humane  form  of  government. 
Meantime  the  report  of  Randolph,  Ellsworth,  and  Yarnum, 
which  was  the  result  of  the  deliberations  of  nearly  eight 
months,  fell  to  the  ground.  We  shall  not  have  to  wait  long 
for  a  word  from  Washington ;  and,  when  he  next  speaks,  he 
will  propose  "  a  new  constitution." 


24:  THE   CONFEDERATION.  B.i.;oH.n. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   STEUGGLE   FOR   EEYENUE. 

1781-1782. 

Schuyler  had  been  led  hy  his  own  experience  to  perceive 
the  necessity  for  the  states  to  surrender  some  part  of  their 
sovereignty,  and  "  adopt  another  system  of  government."  On 
the  twenty-first  of  January  1781  he  moved  in  the  senate  of 
'New  York  to  request  the  eastern  states  to  join  in  an  early 
convention,  which  should  form  a  perpetual  league  of  incorpo- 
ration, subservient,  however,  to  the  common  interest  of  all  the 
states;  invite  others  to  accede  to  it;  erect  Vermont  into  a 
state ;  devise  a  fund  for  the  redemption  of  the  common  debts ; 
substitute  a  permanent  and  uniform  system  for  temporary 
expedients ;  and  invest  the  confederacy  with  powers  of  coer- 
cion.* 

"  We  stand  ready  on  our  part  to  confer  adequate  powers 
on  congress,"  was  the  message  of  both  houses  to  that  body  in 
a  letter  of  the  fifth  of  February,  written  in  the  name  of  the 
state  by  their  joint  committee,  on  which  were  Schuyler  and 
Benson,  f 

"Washington  had  been  taught  by  his  earliest  observation  as 
general,  and  had  often  declared  the  indispensable  necessity  of 
more  responsibility  and  permanency  in  the  executive  bodies.  J 
The  convention  at  Boston  of  August  1780  had  recommended 

*  Schuyler  to  Washington,  21  January  1Y81.    Letters  to  Washington,  iii.,  213. 

f  Letter  from  the  state  of  New  York  to  congress,  5  February  1781.  Papers  of 
Old  Congress,  Ixvii.,  344.  MS.  A  copy  of  the  letter  was  sent  to  Washington  by 
Clinton,  14  February  1781.     Letters  to  Washington,  xlvi.,  172.     MS. 

J  Washington  to  Duane,  26  December  1780. 


1781.  THE  STRUGGLE  FOK  REVENUE.  25 

"  a  permanent  system  for  the  several  departments."  *  Hamil- 
ton "  was  among  the  first  who  were  convinced  that  their  ad- 
ministration by  single  men  was  essential  to  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  affairs."  f  On  the  tenth  of  January  1Y81,  congress 
initiated  a  reform  by  establishing  a  department  of  foreign 
affairs ;:[  but  more  than  eight  months  elapsed  before  it  was 
filled  by  Kobert  K.  Livingston. 

There  was  the  most  pressing  need  of  a  minister  of  war. 
After  tedious  rivalries  and  delays,  Benjamin  Lincoln  was 
elected ;  but  he  did  not  enter  upon  the  office  till  near  the 
end  of  JSTovember,  when  the  attempt  of  Great  Britain  to  sub- 
jugate America  had  ceased. 

For  the  treasury,  John  Sulhvan  suggested  to  Washington 
the  name  of  Hamilton.  *  How  far  Hamilton  had  made  a 
study  of  finance,  "Washington  did  not  know;  but  he  said: 
"  Few  of  his  age  have  a  more  general  knowledge,  and  no  one 
is  more  firmly  engaged  in  the  cause,  or  exceeds  him  in  probity 
and  sterling  virtue."  1  In  February  the  choice  fell  on  Eobert 
Morris,  and  unanimously,  except  that  Massachusetts  abstained 
from  the  ballot,  ^  Samuel  Adams  preferring  the  old  system  of 
committees.^ 

While  Morris  delayed  his  acceptance,  Hamilton,  who  had 
been  the  first  to  present  his  name  for  the  place,  opened  a  cor- 
respondence with  him.  "  A  national  debt,"  he  wrote,  "  if  it  is 
not  excessive,  will  be  a  national  blessing,  a  powerful  cement  of 
union,  a  necessity  for  keeping  up  taxation,  and  a  spur  to  in- 
dustry." J  He  recommended  a  national  bank,  with  a  capital 
of  ten  or  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  to  be  paid  two  sixths  in 
specie,  one  sixth  in  bills  or  securities  on  good  European  funds, 
and  three  sixths  in  good  landed  security.  It  was  to  be  erected 
into   a  legal  corporation  for  thirty  years,  during  which  no 

*  Hough's  edition  of  Convention  at  Boston,  3-9  August  1780,  51. 

f  Hamilton  to  Robert  Morris,  SO  April  1781 ;  Hamilton,  i.,  223 ;  to  Duane, 
3  September  1780.     Ibid.,  i.,  154. 
:j:  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  564. 

*  Sullivan  to  Washington,  29  January  1781.     MS. 

II  Washington  to  Sullivan,  4  February  1781.     Sparks,  vii.,  399. 

^  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  580. 

^  Luzerne  to  Vergennes,  25  March  1731.     Partly  printed  in  Sparks,  vii.,  400. 

^  Hamilton,  i.,  257. 


26  THE   CONFEDERATIOIN'.  b.  i.  ;  en.  ii. 

otlier  bank,  public  or  private,  was  to  be  permitted.  Its  capi- 
tal and  deposits  were  to  be  exempt  from  taxation,  and  the 
United  States,  collectively  and  particularly,  and  conjointly 
with  the  private  proprietors,  were  to  become  responsible 
for  all  its  transactions.  Its  som-ces  of  profit  were  to  be  the 
sole  right  of  issuing  a  currency  for  the  United  States  equal 
in  amount  to  the  whole  capital  of  the  bank ;  loans  at  a  rate 
not  exceeding  eight  per  cent ;  discount  of  bills  of  exchange ; 
contracts  with  the  French  government  for  the  supply  of  its 
fleets  and  armies  in  America,  with  the  United  States  for  the 
supply  of  their  army ;  dealings  in  real  estates,  especially,  with 
its  large  capital,  buying  at  favorable  opportunities  the  real 
estates  of  men  w^ho,  having  rendered  themselves  odious,  w^ould 
be  obliged  to  leave  the  country.  Another  source  of  immense 
gain,  contingently  even  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  was  to  be  a 
contract  with  the  United  States  for  taking  up  all  their  paper 
emissions.  Incidentally,  Hamilton  expressed  his  "  wish  to  see 
a  convention  of  all  the  states,  with  full  power  to  alter  and 
amend,  finally  and  irrevocably,  the  present  futile  and  senseless 
confederation."  * 

This  communication  led  to  the  closest  relations  between 
Hamilton  and  Robert  Morris ;  but,  vehement  as  was  the  char- 
acter of  the  older  man,  his  schemes  fell  far  short  of  the  daring 
suggestions  of  his  young  counsellor.  On  the  fourteenth  of 
May,  Morris  was  installed  as  the  superintendent  of  finance, 
and  three  days  later  he  laid  before  congress  his  plan  for  a 
national  bank,  f  Its  capital  was  to  be  four  hundred  thousand 
doUars  in  gold  and  silver,  with  power  of  increase  at  discretion ; 
its  notes  were  to  form  the  currency  of  the  country,  and  be  re- 
ceivable as  specie  for  duties  and  taxes  by  every  state  and  by 
the  United  States.  Authority  to  constitute  the  company  a 
legal  body  not  being  granted  by  the  articles  of  confederation, 
Morris  submitted  that  congress  should  apply  to  the  states  for 
the  power  of  incorporating  a  bank  and  prohibiting  all  other 
banks.  J 

On  the  twenty-sixth,  congress,  without  waiting  to  hear  the 

*  Hamilton,  i.,  223-257. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  624 ;  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  vii.,  444-449. 

X  E.  Morris  to  congress,  17  May  1781.     Diplomatic  Correspondence,  xi.,  S64. 


1781.  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR   REVENUE.  27 

voices  of  the  states,  resolved  that  the  bank  should  be  incorpo- 
rated so  soon  as  the  subscription  should  be  filled  and  officers 
chosen.  This  vote  was  carried  by  I^ew  Hampshire,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  the  five  southernmost  states,  Massachusetts  being  in 
the  negative,  Pennsylvania  divided,  and  Madison  alone  of  the 
four  members  from  Virginia  opposing  it  as  not  within  the 
powers  of  the  confederation. 

From  the  want  of  a  valuation  of  private  lands  and  build- 
ings, congress  had  not  even  the  right  to  apportion  requisitions. 
The  five  states  which  met  at  Hartford  had  suggested  for  the 
United  States  an  impost  as  a  source  of  revenue.  New  Jersey 
and  North  Carolina  sufiered  from  the  legislation  of  the  neigh- 
boring states,  which  were  the  natural  channels  of  a  part  of 
their  foreign  trade :  on  the  third  of  February  1Y81,  Wither- 
spoon  and  Burke,  their  representatives  in  congress,  reviving  an 
amendment  to  the  articles  of  confederation  proposed  by  New 
Jersey  in  1Y78,'^  moved  to  vest  in  the  United  States  the  power 
of  regulating  commerce  according  to  "  the  common  interest," 
and,  under  restrictions  calculated  to  soothe  state  jealousies, 
the  exclusive  right  of  laying  duties  upon  imported  articles. 
This  motion,  which  v/as  a  memorable  step  toward  union,  failed 
of  success ;  f  and  on  the  same  day  congress  contented  itself 
with  asking  of  the  states,  as  an  "  indispensable  necessity,"  the 
power  to  levy  a  duty  of  five  per  cent  ad  valorem  on  all  im- 
ports, with  no  permanent  exemptions  except  of  wool  cards 
and  cotton  cards,  and  wire  for  making  them.  This  first  scheme 
of  duties  on  foreign  commerce  sought  to  foster  American  in- 
dustry by  the  free  admission  of  materials  necessary  to  the 
manufacturer. 

The  letter  of  the  fifth  of  February  from  the  state  of  New 
York  was  met  on  its  way  by  the  vote  of  congress  of  the  third. 
In  March,  New  York  granted  the  duties,  to  "be  collected  in 
such  manner  and  by  such  ofiicers  as  congress  should  direct."  ^ 
Connecticut  had  acted  a  month  earlier  at  a  special  session 
called  by  Governor  Trumbull,  but  had  limited  its  grant  to  the 
end  of  the  third  year  after  the  war.*     New  Hampshire  fol- 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  ii.,  604.  f  Ibid.,  iii.,  573. 
X  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  Ixxv. 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  594,  600.     Papers  of  Old  Congress,  Ixxv.     MS. 


28  THE  OON'FEDERATIO:Nr.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  il 

lowed  in  tlie  first  week  of  April.*  Massachusetts  delayed  its 
consent  till  tlie  next  year,  and  then  reserved  to  itself  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  collectors. 

Outside  of  the  ^ve  states  which  met  at  Hartford,  the  first 
to  agree  to  the  new  demand  were  Pennsylvania  and  !New  Jer- 
sey, f  The  general  assembly  of  Virginia,  which  was  to  have 
met  in  Eichmond  on  the  seventh  of  May,  was  chased  by  the 
enemy  to  Charlottesville,  where  it  elected  Benjamin  Harrison 
its  speaker,  and  where  John  Taylor  of  Caroline,J  according  to 
order,  presented  a  bill  to  enable  the  United  States  to  levy  the 
needed  duty.  Fleeing  beyond  the  mountains,  they  completed 
the  act  at  Staunton.  The  grant,  of  which  Harrison  had  been 
the  great  promoter,*  was  restricted  neither  as  to  time  nor  aa 
to  form.  II  Early  in  September,  North  Carolina  adopted  the 
measure;^  Delaware  in  ISTovember;  South  Carolina  in  Feb- 
ruary 1782 ;  and  Maryland  in  its  following  April  session.  The 
consent  of  Georgia  was  confidently  expected. 

After  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  the  legislature  of  New 
York  once  more  declared  the  readiness  of  their  state  to  com- 
ply with  any  measures  to  render  the  union  of  the  United  States 
more  intimate,  and  to  contribute  their  proportion  of  well-estab- 
lished funds. ^  This  alacrity  Clinton,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
November,  reported  to  congress  as  the  highest  "  evidence  of  a 
sincere  disposition  in  the  state  to  promote  the  common  inter- 
est."J 

Meantime  the  subscriptions  to  the  bank  languished,  and 
Morris  thought  fit  to  apply  to  John  Jay  for  money  from  the 
court  of  Madrid  for  its  benefit,  saying :  "  I  am  determined 
that  the  bank  shall  be  well  supported  until  it  can  support  itself, 
and  then  it  will  support  us.":^     But  there  was  no  ray  of  hope 

*  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  Ixxiv.,  9.     MS. 

f  Dallas's  Laws  of  Pennsylvania,  i.,  890.  The  act  was  of  5  April  1781. 
Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  632.  The  act  of  New  Jersey  was  passed  2  June  1781. 
Wilson's  Acts  of  New  Jersey,  191. 

:j:  Journal  of  House  of  Delegates,  30  May  1781. 

*  Harrison  to  Washington  31  March  1783. 

II  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  Ixxv.,  359.     Hening's  Statutes  at  Large,  x.,  409. 

^  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  Ixxvi.,  91.     Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  674. 

^  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  Ixvii.,  438.     MS. 

i  Ibid.,  443.  ^  Morris  to  Jay,  13  July  1781.     Dip.  Cor.,  vii.,  440. 


1782.  THE   STRUGGLE  FOK  REVENUE.  29 

from  that  quarter.  Tbougli  so  late  as  October  1781  the  sub- 
scription amounted  to  no  more  than  seventy  thousand  dollars,* 
he  was  yet  able  to  prevail  with  congress,  on  the  thirty-first 
day  of  December,  to  incorporate  the  bank  "  forever  "  by  the 
name  of  the  Bank  of  E"orth  America ;  but  it  was  not  to  exer- 
cise powers  in  any  one  of  the  United  States  repugnant  to  the 
laws  or  constitution  of  that  state. f  But  for  this  restriction 
Madison  would  have  seen  in  the  ordinance  "  a  precedent  of 
usurpation."  J 

The  bank  still  wanted  capital.  During  the  autumn  of  1781 
a  remittance  in  specie  of  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  dollars 
had  been  received  from  the  king  of  France,  and  brought  to 
Philadelphia.  In  January  1782,  Morris,  with  no  clear  warrant, 
subscribed  all  of  this  sum  that  remained  in  the  treasury,  being 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  dollars,  to  the  stock 
of  the  bank,*  which  was  thus  nursed  into  life  by  the  public 
moneys.  In  return,  it  did  very  little,  and  could  do  very  little, 
for  the  United  States.  Its  legal  establishment  was  supported 
by  a  charter  from  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  in  March  1782 ; 
by  an  act  of  recognition  from  Pennsylvania  in  March,  and  a 
charter  on  the  first  of  April ;  and  ten  days  later  by  a  charter 
from  !N"ew  York.  The  final  proviso  of  the  'New  York  charter 
was,  "  that  nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  be  construed  to 
imply  any  right  or  power  in  the  United  States  in  congress 
assembled  to  create  bodies  politic,  or  grant  letters  of  incorpo- 
ration in  any  case  whatsoever."!  The  acts  of  Pennsylvania 
were  repealed  in  1785.     Delaware  gave  a  charter  in  1786. 

The  confederacy  promised  itself  a  solid  foundation  for 
a  system  of  finance  from  a  duty  on  imports.  Through  the 
press,  Hamilton  now  pleads  for  vesting  congress  with  full 
power  of  regulating  trade ;  and  he  contrasts  the  "  prospect  of 
a  number  of  petty  states,  jarring,  jealous,  and  perverse,  fluctu- 
ating and  unhappy  at  home,  weak  by  their  dissensions  in  the 
eyes  of  other  nations,"  with  the  "  noble  and  magnificent  per- 
spective of  a  great  federal  republic." 

*  Life  of  Morris,  8L 

f  Ordinance  to  incorporate,  etc.    Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  706,  101. 
X  Gilpin,  105. 

*  From  the  narrative  of  Robert  Morris  in  Life  of  Morris,  90. 
fi  Jones  &  Varick's  edition  of  Laws  of  New  York,  1789, 11, 


30  THE   CONFEDERATION".  b.  i.  ;  oh.  ii. 

It  is  the  glory  of  JSTew  York  that  its  legislature  was  the 
first  to  impart  the  sanction  of  a  state  to  the  great  conception 
of  a  federal  convention  to  frame  a  constitution  for  the  United 
States.  On  the  report  of  a  committee  of  which  Madison  was 
the  head,  congress,  in  May  1782,  took  into  consideration  the 
desperate  condition  of  the  finances  of  the  country,  and  divided 
between  four  of  its  members  the  office  of  explaining  the  com- 
mon danger  to  every  state.*  At  the  request  of  the  delegation 
which  repaired  to  the  ]N"orth,  Clinton  convened  an  extra  ses- 
sion of  the  senate  and  assembly  of  ]N'ew  York  at  Poughkeepsie, 
where,  in  July,  they  received  from  the  committee  of  congress 
a  full  communication  f  "  on  the  necessity  of  providing  for  a 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war." 

The  legislature  had  been  in  session  for  a  week  v/hen  Ham- 
ilton, who  for  a  few  months  filled  the  office  of  United  States 
receiver  of  revenue  for  his  state,  repaired  to  Poughkeepsie 
"  to  second  the  views "  of  his  superior.  In  obedience  to  in- 
structions, he  strongly  represented  "  the  necessity  of  solid  ar- 
rangements of  finance ; "  but  lie  went  to  the  work  "  without 
very  sanguine  expectations,"  for  he  believed  that,  "  whatever 
momentary  eifort  the  legislature  might  make,  very  little  would 
be  done  till  the  entire  change  of  the  present  system  ; "  and, 
before  this  could  be  effected,  "  mountains  of  prejudice  and  par- 
ticular interest  were  to  be  levelled."  J 

On  the  nineteenth,  three  days  after  his  arrival,  on  the  mo- 
tion of  Schuyler,  his  father-in-law,  who  was  ever  constant  in 
support  of  a  national  system,  the  senate  resolved  itself  into 
"  a  committee  of  the  whole  on  the  state  of  the  nation."  From 
its  deliberations  on  two  successive  days  a  series  of  resolutions 
proceeded,  which,  as  all  agree,  Hamilton  drafted,  and  which, 
after  they  had  been  considered  by  paragraphs,  were  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  senate.  The  house  concurred  in  them  with- 
out amendment  and  with  equal  unanimity.  These  resolutions 
as  they  went  forth  from  the  legislature  find  in  the  public  ex- 
perience "  the  strongest  reason  to  apprehend  from  a  continu- 
ance of  the  present  constitution  of  the  continental  government 
a  subversion  of  public  credit,"  and  a  danger  "  to  the  safety  and 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  22  May  and  15  and  18  July  1782. 

f  Clinton's  message  of  11  July  1782.  J  Hamilton,  i.,  280,  288,. 


1782.  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  REVENUE.  31 

independence  of  the  states."  They  repeat  the  words  of  the 
Hartford  convention  and  of  Clinton,  that  the  radical  source  of 
the  public  embarrassments  had  been  the  want  of  sufficient 
power  in  congress,  particularly  the  power  of  providing  for 
itself  a  revenue,  which  could  not  be  obtained  by  partial  delib- 
erations of  the  separate  states.  For  these  reasons  the  legis- 
lature of  ]N"ew  York  invite  congress  for  the  common  welfare 
"  to  recommend  and  each  state  to  adopt  the  measure  of  as- 
sembling a  general  convention  of  the  states  specially  authorized 
to  revise  and  amend  the  confederation,  reserving  a  right  to  the 
respective  legislatures  to  ratify  their  determinations."  *  These 
resolutions  the  governor  of  New  York  was  requested  to  trans- 
mit to  congress  and  to  the  executive  of  every  state. 

The  legislature  held  a  conference  with  Hamilton,  as  the 
receiver  of  revenue,  but  without  permanent  results  ;  and  it  in- 
cluded him  "  pretty  unanimously  "  in  its  appointment  of  dele- 
gates to  congress  for  the  ensuing  year.  On  the  fourth  of 
August  the  resolutions  for  a  federal  convention  were  commu- 
nicated by  Clinton  without  a  word  of  remark  to  the  congress 
then  in  session.  There,  on  the  fifteenth,  they  were  referred 
to  a  grand  committee ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  that  con- 
gress proceeded  to  its  election. 

In  his  distress  for  money,  Morris  solicited  a  new  French 
loan  of  twenty  millions  of  livres.  The  demand  was  excessive : 
the  king,  however,  consented  to  a  loan  of  six  millions  for  the 
year  1783,  of  which  Franklin  immediately  received  one  tenth 
part.  "  You  will  take  care,"  so  Yergennes  wrote  to  Luzerne, 
*'  not  to  leave  them  any  hope  that  the  king  can  make  them 
further  advances  or  guarantee  for  them  new  loans  from  others ; " 
and  he  complained  that  the  United  States  did  not  give  suffi- 
cient proofs  of  their  readiness  to  create  the  means  for  meeting 
their  debts.f 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  December  the  French  auxiliary 
forces  in  the  United  States,  except  one  regiment  which  soon 
followed,  embarked  at  Boston  for  the  West  Indies.  The  affec- 
tions, the  gratitude,  the  sympathy,  the  hopes  of  America  fol- 
lowed the   French   officers  as  they   left  her  shores.     What 

*  ITS.  copy  of  the  Journals  of  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  New  York  for  the 
cession  of  July  1782.  f  Vergennes  to  Luzerne,  21  December  1782. 


32  THE  CONFEDERATION".  b.  i.  ;  ch.  ii. 

boundless  services  they  liad  rendered  in  tlie  establisliment  of 
her  independence !  What  creative  ideas  they  were  to  carry 
home !  How  did  they  in  later  wars  defy  death  in  all  climes, 
from  San  Domingo  to  Moscow  and  to  the  Nile,  always  ready 
to  bleed  for  their  beautiful  land,  often  yielding  up  their  lives 
for  liberty !  Rochambeau,  who  was  received  with  special  honor 
by  Louis  XYI.,  through  a  happy  accident  escaped  the  perils  of 
the  revolution,  and  lived  to  be  more  than  fourscore  years  of 
age.  Yiomenil,  his  second  in  command,  was  mortally  wounded 
while  defending  his  king  in  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries.  De 
Grasse  died  before  a  new  war  broke  out.  For  more  than  fifty 
years  Lafayette — in  the  states  general,  in  convention,  in  legis- 
lative assemblies,  at  the  head  of  armies,  in  exile,  in  cruel  and 
illegal  imprisonment,  in  retirement,  in  his  renewed  public  life, 
the  emancipator  of  slaves,  the  apostle  of  free  labor,  the  dearest 
guest  of  America — remained  to  his  latest  hour  the  true  and 
the  ever  hopeful  representative  of  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  Hb- 
erty.  The  Yiscount  de  Noailles,  who  so  gladly  assisted  to 
build  in  America  the  home  of  human  freedom  for  comers  from 
all  nations,  was  destined  to  make  the  motion  which  in  one 
night  swept  from  his  own  country  feudal  privilege  and  per- 
sonal servitude.  The  young  Count  Henri  de  Saint-Simon,  who 
during  his  four  campaigns  in  America  mused  on  the  never- 
ending  succession  of  sorrows  for  the  many,  devoted  himself  to 
the  reform  of  society,  government,  and  industry.  Dumas  sur- 
vived long  enough  to  take  part  in  the  revolution  of  July 
1830.  Charles  Lameth,  in  the  states  general  and  constituent 
assembly,  proved  one  of  the  wisest  and  ablest  of  the  popular 
party,  truly  loving  liberty  and  hating  all  excesses  in  its  name. 
Alexander  Lameth,  acting  with  the  third  estate  in  the  states 
general,  proposed  the  abolition  of  all  privileges,  the  enfran- 
chisement of  every  slave,  and  freedom  of  the  press ;  he  shared 
the  captivity  of  Lafayette  in  Olmiitz,  and  to  the  end  of  his 
life  was  a  defender  of  constitutional  rights.  Custine  of  Metz, 
whose  brilliant  services  in  the  United  States  had  won  for  him 
very  high  promotion,  represented  in  the  states  general  the  no- 
bility of  Lorraine,  and  insisted  on  a  declaration  of  the  rights 
of  man.  Of  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux  Washington  said: 
"  JSTever  have  I  parted  with  a  man  to  whom  my  soul  clave  more 


1782.  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  REVENUE.  33 

sincerely."  *  His  pliilaiitliropic  zeal  for  "  tlie  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number"  was  interrupted  only  by  an  early 
death. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  Secondat,  a  grandson  of  the 
great  Montesquieu,  obtained  promotion  for  good  service  in 
America.  ISTor  may  an  Amercan  fail  to  name  the  young  Prince 
de  Broglie,  though  he  arrived  too  late  to  take  part  in  any  bat- 
tle. In  the  midday  of  life,  just  before  he  was  wantonly  sent 
to  the  guillotine,  he  said  to  his  child,  then  nine  years  old, 
afterward  the  self-sacrificing  minister,  who  kept  faith  with  the 
United  States  at  the  cost  of  popularity  and  place  :  "  My  son, 
they  may  strive  to  draw  you  away  from  the  side  of  liberty,  by 
saying  to  you  that  it  took  the  life  of  your  father  ;  never  be- 
lieve them,  and  remain  true  to  its  noble  cause." 

At  the  time  when  the  strength  which  came  from  the  pres- 
ence of  a  wealthy  and  generous  ally  was  departing,  the  ground 
was  shaking  beneath  the  feet  of  congress.  Pennsylvania,  the 
great  central  state,  in  two  memorials  offered  to  congress  the 
dilemma,  either  to  satisfy  its  creditors  in  that  state,  or  to  suffer 
them  to  be  paid  by  the  state  itself  out  of  its  contributions  to 
the  general  revenue.  The  first  was  impossible;  the  second 
would  dissolve  the  union.  Yet  it  was  with  extreme  difficulty 
that  Putledge,  Madison,  and  Hamilton,  a  committee  from  con- 
gress, prevailed  upon  the  assembly  of  Pennsylvania  to  desist 
for  the  time  from  appropriating  funds  raised  for  the  confed- 
eration, f 

The  system  for  revenue  by  duties  on  importations  seemed 
now  to  await  only  the  assent  of  Rhode  Island.  That  common- 
wealth in  1781  gave  a  wavering  answer ;  and  then  instructed 
its  delegates  in  congress  to  uphold  state  sovereignty  and  in- 
dependence. On  the  first  of  ITovember  1782  its  assembly 
unanimously  rejected  the  measure  for  three  reasons  :  the  im- 
post would  bear  hardest  on  the  most  commercial  states,  par- 
ticularly upon  Ehode  Island  ;  officers  unknown  to  the  constitu- 
tion would  be  introduced ;  a  revenue  for  the  expenditure  of 
which  congress  is  not  to  be  accountable  to  the  states  would 

*  Sparks,  viii.,  367. 

f  Gilpin,  199,  216,  224,  488 ;  Journals  of  Congress,  4  December  1782 ;  Min- 
utes of  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  for  1782,  pp.  663,  675,  733. 

VOL.    VI. — 3 


84  THE   OONFEDERATIOX.  b.  i.  ;  ch.  ii. 

render  that  body  independent  of  its  constituents,  and  would  be 
repugnant  to  the  liberty  of  the  United  States.  * 

The  necessity  of  the  consent  of  every  one  of  the  thirteen 
states  to  any  amendment  of  the  confederacy  gave  to  Rhode 
Island  a  control  over  the  destinies  of  America.  Against 
its  obstinacy  the  confederation  was  helpless.  The  reply  to 
its  communication,  drafted  by  Hamilton,  declared,  first :  that 
the  duty  would  prove  a  charge  not  on  the  importing  state, 
but  on  the  consumer;  next,  that  no  governm_ent  can  exist 
without  a  right  of  appointing  officers  for  those  purposes 
which  proceed  from  and  centre  in  itself,  though  the  power 
may  not  be  expressly  known  to  the  constitution;  lastly,  the 
impost  is  a  measure  of  necessity,  "  and,  if  not  within  the 
letter,  is  within  the  spirit  of  the  confederation."  f 

The  growing  discontent  of  the  army,  the  clamor  of  public 
creditors,  the  enormous  deficit  in  the  revenue,  were  invincible 
arguments  for  a  plan  which  promised  relief.  Congress  hav- 
ing no  resource  except  persuasion,  three  of  its  members  would 
have  borne  its  letter  to  Rhode  Island  but  for  intelligence  from 
Yirginia.J 

In  the  legislature  of  that  state,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  wait- 
ing till  the  business  of  the  session  was  nearly  over  and  the 
house  very  thin,  *  proposed  to  the  assembly  to  withdraw  its 
assent  to  the  federal  impost ;  and  the  repeal  was  carried  in  the 
house  on  the  sixth,  in  the  senate  on  the  seventh  of  December,  | 
without  a  negative.  The  reasons  for  the  act,  as  recited  in  its 
preamble,  were :  "  The  permitting  any  power  other  than  the 
general  assembly  of  this  commonwealth  to  levy  duties  or  taxes 
upon  the  citizens  of  this  state  within  the  same  is  injurious  to 
its  sovereignty,  may  prove  destructive  of  the  rights  and  liberty 
of  the  people,  and,  so  far  as  congress  may  exercise  the  same, 
is  contravening  the  spirit  of  the  confederation."  ^ 

Far-sighted  members  of  congress  prognosticated  the  most 
pernicious  effects  on  the  character,  interests,  and  duration  of 

*  Records  of  Rhode  Island,  ix.,  487,  612,  682,  683,  684. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  200.  X  Gilpin,  488,  238 ;  Elliot,  17. 

*  Governor  B.  Harrison  to  Washington,  31  March  17S3. 

I  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  vol.  Ixv.    Journals  of  House  of  Delegates,  55-58. 
^  Hening,  xi.,  171. 


1782.  THE  STRUGGLE   FOR  REVENUE.  35 

tlie  confederacy.  The  broad  line  of  party  division  was  clearly 
dra^vn.  The  contest  was  between  the  existing  league  of  states 
and  a  republic  of  united  states ;  between  "  state  sovereignty  "  * 
and  a  "consolidated  union ;"f  between  "state  poUtics  and 
continental  politics ; "  if  between  the  fear  of  "  the  centripetal " 
and  the  fear  of  "  the  centrifugal  force  "  in  the  system.*  Yir- 
ginia  made  itself  the  battle-ground  on  which  for  the  next  six 
years  the  warring  opinions  were  to  meet.  During  all  that  time  , 
Washington  and  Madison  led  the  striving  for  a  more  perfect  \ 
union ;  Richard  Henry  Lee,  at  present  sustained  by  the  legis- 
lature of  Yirginia,  was  the  persistent  champion  of  separatism 
and  the  sovereignty  of  each  state. 

How  beneiicent  was  the  authority  of  the  union  appeared  at 
this  time  from  a  shining  example.  To  quell  the  wild  strife 
which  had  grown  out  of  the  claim  of  Connecticut  to  lands 
within  the  charter  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  five  commission- 
ers appointed  by  congress  opened  their  court  at  Trenton.  "  The 
case  was  well  argued  by  learned  counsel  on  both  sides,"  and, 
after  a  session  of  more  than  six  weeks,  the  court  pronounced  || 
their  unanimous  opinion,  that  the  jurisdiction  and  pre-emp- 
tion of  the  lands  in  controversy  did  of  right  belong  to  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania.  The  judgment  was  approved  by  con- 
gress ;  and  the  parties  in  the  litigation  gave  the  example  of 
submission  to  this  first  settlement  of  a  controversy  between 
states  by  the  decree  of  a  court  estabhshed  by  the  United  States. 

*  William  Gordon  to  A.  Lee.     Lee's  Life  of  Arthur  Lee,  ii.,  291. 

I  Lafayette  ia  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  x.,  41. 
X  Hamilton,  i.,  S56. 

*  Speech  of  Wilson,  23  January  1783,  in  Gilpin,  290;  Elliot,  34.     The  same 
figure  was  used  by  Hamilton  to  Washington,  24  March  1783.     Hamilton,  i.,  348. 

II  Journals  of  Congress,  30  December  1782. 


36  THE  CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  hi. 


CHAPTER  III. 

AMEEICA   AND   GEEAT   BEITAIN. 

1782-1783. 

The  king  of  France  heard  from  Yergennes,  with  surprise 
and  resentment,  that  the  American  deputies  had  signed  their 
treaty  of  peace ;  *  Marie  Antoinette  was  conciliated  by  the 
assurance  that  "  they  had  obtained  for  their  constituents  the 
most  advantageous  conditions."  "  The  English  buy  the  peace 
rather  than  make  it,"  wrote  Yergennes  to  his  subaltern  in  Lon- 
don ;  their  "  concessions  as  to  boundaries,  the  fisheries,  and  the 
loyalists,  exceed  everything  that  I  had  thought  possible."  f 
"  The  treaty  with  America,"  answered  Rayneval,  "  appears  to 
me  like  a  dream." :]:  Kaunitz  *  and  his  emperor  ||  mocked  at 
its  articles. 

King  George  of  England  was  mastered  by  a  consuming 
grief  for  the  loss  of  America,  and  knew  no  ease  of  mind  by 
day  or  by  night.  When,  on  the  fifth  of  December,  in  his 
speech  at  the  opening  of  parliament,  he  came  to  read  that  he 
had  offered  to  declare  the  colonies  of  America  free  and  inde- 
pendent states,  his  manner  was  constrained  "'^  and  his  voice 
fell.  To  wound  him  least,  Shelbume  in  the  house  of  lords, 
confining  himself  to  the  language  of  the  speech  from  the  throne, 

*  Count   Mercy's  report  from  Paris,  6  December  1Y82.     MS.  from  Vienna 
archives.  f  Yergennes  to  Rayneval,  4  December  1782.     MS. 

X  Rayneval  to  Yergennes,  12  December  1782.     MS. 

*  Kaunitz's  note  of  22  December  1782,  written  on  the  emperor's  copy  of  the 
speech  of  the  king  of  England  at  the  opening  of  parliament.     MS. 

I  Autograph   memorandum  of  Joseph.     MS.     Joseph  II.  und  Leopold   von 
Toscana.     Ihr  Brief  wechsel  von  1781  bis  1790,  i.,  146. 
^  Rayneval  to  Yergennes,  12  December  1782.    MS. 


1782-1783.  AMERICA  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN.  37 

represented  the  offer  of  independence  to  America  as  contingent 
on  peace  with  France.  To  a  question  from  Fox  on  the  follow- 
ing night  in  the  other  house,  Pitt,  with  unfaltering  courage,  an- 
swered that  the  recognition  was  unqualified  and  irrevocable. 

During  the  Christmas  holidays  the  negotiations  for  a  gen- 
eral peace  were  pursued  with  equal  diligence  and  moderation 
by  Yergennes  and  Shelburne ;  and  France  made  sacrifices  of 
its  own  to  induce  Spain  to  forego  the  recovery  of  Gibraltar 
and  assent  to  terms  which  in  all  other  respects  were  most  gen- 
erous. The  Netherlands,  though  their  definitive  peace  was 
delayed,  agreed  in  the  suspension  of  arms.  Franklin  shrewdly 
and  truly  observed  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  nations  then 
possessing  the  West  India  islands  to  let  them  govern  them- 
selves as  neutral  powers,  open  to  the  commerce  of  all,  the  prof- 
its of  the  present  monopoHes  being  by  no  means  equivalent 
to  the  expense  of  maintaining  them ;  *  but  the  old  system  was 
preserved.  Conquests  were  restored,  and  England  felt  it  to 
be  no  wound  to  her  dignity  to  give  back  an  unimportant  island 
which  she  had  wrested  from  the  house  of  Bourbon  in  a  for- 
mer war.  The  East  Indian  alUes  of  France,  of  whom  the  fore- 
most was  Tippoo  Saib,  the  son  and  successor  of  Hyder  Ali, 
were  invited  to  join  in  the  peace.  France  recovered  St.  Pierre 
and  Miquelon  and  her  old  share  in  the  fisheries  of  Newfound- 
land ;  Spain  retained  Minorca,  and,  what  was  of  the  greatest 
moment  for  the  United  States,  both  the  Floridas,  which  she 
certainly  would  find  a  burden.  Treaties  of  commerce  between 
Great  Britain  and  each  of  the  two  Bourbon  kingdoms  were  to 
be  made  within  two  years. 

When,  on  the  twentieth  of  January,  these  preliminaries 
were  signed  by  the  respective  plenipotentiaries,  John  Adams 
and  Benjamin  Franklin,  on  the  summons  of  Yergennes,  were 
present,  and  in  the  name  of  the  United  States  acceded  to  the 
declaration  of  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  The  provisional 
treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  was  held 
to  take  effect  from  that  day. 

"  At  last,"  wrote  Yergennes  to  Eayneval,  as  soon  as  the 
meeting  was  over,  "  we  are  about  to  breathe  under  the  shadow 
of  peace.     Let  us  take  care  to  make  it  a  solid  one ;  may  the 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  iv.,  69. 


38  THE   CONFEDERATION".  b.i.;oh.  m. 

name  of  war  be  forgotten  forever."  ^'*  In  a  letter  to  Shelburne 
on  that  same  day  he  expressed  the  confident  hope  that  all 
ancient  distrust  would  be  removed ;  and  Shelbnrne  replied : 
"  The  liberal  spirit  and  good  faith  which  have  governed  our 
neo;otiations  leave  no  room  to  fear  for  the  future  either  di&- 
trust  or  jealousy."  f  King  George  dwelt  with  Eayneval  on 
the  cordial  understanding  which  he  desired  to  establish  with 
Louis  XYI.  "  I  wish,"  said  he,  "  never  again  to  have  a  war 
with  France  ;  we  have  had  a  first  division  of  Poland ;  there 
must  not  be  a  second."  J 

So  came  the  peace  which  recognised  the  right  of  a  com- 
monwealth of  Europeans  outside  of  Europe,  occupying  a  con- 
tinental territory  within  the  temperate  zone  ;  remote  from 
foreign  interference  ;  needing  no  standing  armies ;  with  every 
augury  of  a  rapid  growth ;  and  sure  of  exercising  the  most 
quickening  and  widest  influence  on  political  ideas,  ^'  to  assume 
an  equal  station  among  the  powers  of  the  earth." 

The  restoration  of  intercourse  with  America  pressed  for 
instant  consideration.  Burke  was  of  opinion  that  the  naviga- 
tion act  should  be  completely  revised ;  Shelburne  and  his  col- 
leagues, aware  that  no  paltry  regulation  would  now  succeed, 
were  indefatigable  in  digesting  a  great  and  extensive  system 
of  trade,  and  sought,  by  the  emancipation  of  commerce,  to 
bring  about  with  the  Americans  a  family  friendship  more 
beneficial  to  England  than  their  former  dependence.*  To 
promote  this  end,  on  the  evening  of  the  eleventh  of  February, 
William  Pitt,  with  the  permission  of  the  king,  repaired  to 
Charles  James  Fox  and  invited  him  to  join  the  ministry  of 
Shelburne.  The  only  good  course  for  Fox  was  to  take  the 
hand  which  the  young  statesman  offered;  but  he  put  aside 
the  overture  vdth  coldness,  if  not  with  disdain,  choosing  a 
desperate  alliance  with  those  whose  conduct  he  had  pretended 
to  detest,  and  whose  principles  it  was  in  later  years  his  redeem- 
ing glory  to  have  opposed. 

*  Vcrgennes  to  Rayneval,  20  January  1783.     MS. 

f  Vergennes  to  Shelburne,  20  January  1783  ;    Shelburne  to  Yergcnnes,   24 
January  1*783.     Lansdowne  House  MSS. 

X  Rayneval  to  Vergennes,  24  and  28  January  1*783.     MS. 

*  Price  in  Lee's  Life  of  Arthur  Lee,  ii.,  349. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND  GREAT  BRITAIN".  39 

Pending  the  negotiations  with  France  and  Spain,  Fox  and 
Lord  North  remained  quiet,  from  the  desire  to  throw  the 
undivided  responsibility  for  the  peace  on  Lord  Shelbume; 
but  when  on  the  seventeenth  of  February,  in  a  house  of  four 
hundred  and  fifty  members,  the  treaties  with  the  United  States 
and  with  both  branches  of  the  Bourbons  were  laid  before  par- 
liament, and  an  address  of  approval,  promising  a  liberal  revi- 
sion of  commercial  law,  was  moved,  the  long-pent-up  passions 
raged  without  restraint.  'No  sooner  had  William  "Wilberforce, 
with  grace  and  good  feeling,  seconded  the  motion  and  in  the 
warmest  language  assured  to  the  loyal  refugees  compensation 
for  their  losses,  than  Lord  John  Cavendish,  the  nearest  friend 
of  Fox,  condemned  the  peace,  though  supporting  its  condi- 
tions. Lord  North  then  pronounced  against  it  a  most  elabo- 
rate, uncandid,  and  factious  invective.  He  would  have  de- 
prived the  United  States  of  access  to  the  upper  lakes ;  he 
would  have  retained  for  Canada  the  country  north  and  north- 
west of  the  Ohio  ;  and,  bad  as  is  a  possession  which  gives  no 
advantage  but  powers  of  annoyance,  he  would  have  kept  east 
Florida  as  well  as  the  Bahamas,  so  as  to  compel  the  ships  of 
America,  in  passing  through  the  Florida  channel,  to  run  the 
gauntlet  between  British  posts.  lie  would  have  had  no  peace 
without  the  reinstatement  of  the  loyalists,  nor  without  securing 
independence  to  the  savage  allies  of  Great  Britain.  He  enu- 
merated one  by  one  the  posts  in  the  West  which  by  the  treaty 
fell  to  America,  dwelt  on  the  cost  of  their  construction  and 
on  their  importance  to  the  fur-trade,  and  foreshadowed  the 
policy  of  delaying  their  surrender.  He  not  only  censured  the 
grant  to  the  Americans  of  a  right  to  fish  on  the  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia,  but  spoke  as  if  they  derived  from  Great  Britain  the 
right  to  fish  on  the  banks  in  the  sea  which  are  the  exclusive 
property  of  no  one.  At  the  side  of  Lord  North  stood  Edmund 
Burke,  with  hotter  zeal  as  a  partisan,  though  with  better  inten- 
tions toward  America.  Pitt  answered  every  objection  to  the 
treaty  ;  but,  after  a  debate  of  twelve  hours,  the  ministry  on 
the  division  found  themselves  in  a  minority  of  sixteen. 

On  the  same  evening,  to  a  larger  number  of  peers  than  had 
met  in  their  house  since  the  accession  of  George  HI.,  Carlisle, 
the  unsuccessful  commissioner  of  1778,  KejDpel,  the  inglorious 


iO  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  hi. 

admiral,  and  Stormont,  the  late  headstrong  ambassador  at 
Paris,  eager  to  become  once  more  a  secretary  of  state.  Lord 
George  Germain,  now  known  as  Lord  Sackville,  Wedderburn, 
now  Lord  Loughborough  and  coveting  the  office  of  lord  chan- 
cellor, poured  forth  criminations  of  a  treaty  for  which  the 
necessity  was  due  to  their  own  incapacity.  In  perfect  under- 
standing with  Fox  and  Lord  North,  they  complained  that  the 
ministers  had  given  up  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  "  the  paradise 
of  America,"  had  surrendered  the  fur-trade,  had  broken  faith 
with  the  Indians,  had  been  false  to  the  loyalists.  Thurlow 
ably  defended  every  article  of  the  treaty  that  had  been  im- 
peached, and  then  asked :  "  Is  there  any  individual  in  this 
house  who  dares  to  avow  that  his  wish  is  for  war  ? "  The  in- 
terest of  the  debate  centred  in  Shelburne,  and  the  house  gave 
him  the  closest  attention  as  he  spoke  :  "  Noble  lords  who  made 
a  lavish  use  of  these  Indians  have  taken  great  pains  to  show 
their  immense  value,  but  those  who  abhorred  their  violence 
will  think  the  ministry  have  done  wisely."  Naming  a  British 
agent  who  had  been  detested  for  wanton  cruelty,  he  continned : 
"  The  descendants  of  William  Penn  will  manage  them  better 
than  all  the  Stuarts,  with  aU  the  trumpery  and  jobs  that  we 
could  contrive. 

"With  regard  to  the  loyalists,  I  have  but  one  answer  to 
give  the  house.  It  is  the  answer  I  gave  my  own  bleeding 
heart.  A  part  must  be  wounded  that  the  whole  empire  may 
not  perish.  If  better  terms  could  have  been  had,  think  you, 
my  lords,  that  I  would  not  have  embraced  them  ?  If  it  had 
been  possible  to  put  aside  the  bitter  cup  which  the  adversi- 
ties of  this  country  presented  to  me,  you  know  I  would  have 
done  it. 

"  The  fur-trade  is  not  given  up ;  it  is  only  divided,  and 
divided  for  our  benefit.  Its  best  resources  lie  to  the  north- 
ward. Monopolies,  some  way  or  other,  are  ever  justly  pun- 
ished. They  forbid  rivalry,  and  rivalry  is  the  very  essence  of 
the  well-being  of  trade.  This  seems  to  be  the  era  of  protest- 
antism in  trade.  All  Europe  appears  enlightened  and  eager  to 
throw  off  the  vile  shackles  of  oppressive,  ignorant,  unmanly 
monopoly.  It  is  always  unwise ;  but,  if  there  is  any  nation 
under  heaven  who  ought  to  be  the  first  to  reject  monopoly,  it 


1783.  AMERICA  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN.  41 

is  the  English.  Situated  as  we  are  between  the  Old  World  and 
the  'New,  and  between  southern  and  northern  Europe,  all  that 
we  onght  to  covet  is  equality  and  free-trade.  With  more  in- 
dustry, with  more  enterprise,  with  more  capital  than  any 
trading  nation  upon  earth,  it  ought  to  be  our  constant  cry, 
Let  every  market  be  open ;  let  us  meet  our  rivals  fairly  and 
ask  no  more,  telling  the  Americans  that  we  desire  to  live  with 
them  in  communion  of  benefits  and  in  sincerity  of  friend- 
ship." ^ 

At  near  half-past  four  in  the  morning  the  majority  of  the 
lords  for  the  ministry  was  only  thirteen. 

On  the  twenty-first,  resolutions  censuring  them  were  offered 
in  the  house  of  commons.  In  the  former  debate.  Fox  had 
excused  the  change  in  his  relations  to  Lord  North  by  the  plea 
that  his  friendships  were  perpetual,  his  enmities  placable  ; 
keeping  out  of  sight  that  political  principles  may  not  be  sacri- 
ficed to  personal  reconciliations,  he  now  proclaimed  and  justi- 
fied their  coalition.  "Their  coalition,"  replied  Pitt,  "origi- 
nated rather  in  an  inclination  to  force  the  earl  of  Shelbume 
from  the  treasury  than  in  any  real  conviction  that  ministers 
deserve  censure  for  the  concessions  they  have  made,  f  What- 
ever appears  dishonorable  or  inadequate  in  the  peace  on  your 
table  is  strictly  chargeable  to  the  noble  lord  in  the  blue  rib- 
bon," Lord  North,  "  whose  profusion  of  the  pubhc  money, 
whose  notorious  temerity  and  obstinacy  in  prosecuting  the 
war  which  originated  in  his  pernicious  and  oppressive  policy, 
and  whose  utter  incapacity  to  fill  the  station  he  occupied,  ren- 
dered peace  of  any  description  indispensable  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  state.  The  triumph  of  party  shall  never  induce  me 
to  call  the  abandonment  of  former  princij^les  a  forgetting  of 
ancient  prejudices,  or  to  pass  an  amnesty  upon  measures  which 
have  brought  my  country  almost  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  I  will 
never  engage  in  political  enmities  without  a  public  cause ;  I 
will  never  forego  such  enmities  without  the  public  approba- 
tion. High  situation  and  great  infiuence  I  am  solicitous  to 
possess,  whenever  they  can  be  acquired  with  dignity.  I  relin- 
quish them  the  moment  any  duty  to  my  country,  my  character, 
or  my  friends,  renders  such  a  sacrifice  indispensable.     I  look 

*  Almon's  Parliamentary  Kegister,  sxTiii.,  67,  68.  f  Ibid.,  xxvi.,  347. 


42  THE   CONTEDER ATIOIf.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  iii. 

to  the  independent  part  of  the  house  and  to  the  public  at  large 
for  that  acquittal  from  blame  to  which  mj  innocence  entitles 
me.  Mj  earliest  impressions  were  in  favor  of  the  noblest  and 
most  disinterested  modes  of  serving  the  public.  These  im- 
pressions I  will  cherish  as  a  legacy  infinitely  more  valuable 
than  the  greatest  inheritance.  You  may  take  from  me  the 
privileges  and  emoluments  of  place,  but  you  cannot,  you  shall 
not,  take  from  me  those  habitual  regards  for  the  prosperity  of 
Great  Britain  which  constitute  the  honor,  the  happiness,  the 
pride  of  my  life.  With  this  consolation,  the  loss  of  power 
and  the  loss  of  fortune,  though  I  affect  not  to  despise,  I  hope 
I  shall  soon  be  able  to  forget.  I  praise  Fortune  when  con- 
stant ;  if  she  stnkes  her  swift  wing,  I  resign  her  gifts  and  seek 
upright,  unportioned  poverty."  ^ 

The  eloquence  of  Pitt,  his  wise  conduct,  and  the  purity  of  his 
morals,  gained  him  the  confidence  to  which  Fox  vainly  aspired.f 

A  majority  of  seventeen  aj)pearing  against  Shelburne,  he 
resigned  on  the  twenty-fourth ;  and  by  his  advice  the  king  on 
the  same  day  offered  to  Pitt,  though  not  yet  twenty-four  years 
old,  the  treasury,  with  power  to  form  an  administration  and 
with  every  assurance  of  support.  But  the  young  statesman, 
obeying  alike  the  dictates  of  prudence  and  the  custom  of  the 
British  constitution,  would  not  accept  office  without  a  majority 
in  the  house  of  commons  ;  and  on  the  twenty-seventh,  finding 
that  such  a  majority  could  not  be  obtained  but  by  the  aid,  or 
at  least  the  neatrality,  of  Lord  I*Torth,  he  refused  the  splendid 
offer,  unalterably  firm  alike  against  the  entreaties  and  the  re- 
proaches of  the  king.  This  moderation  in  a  young  man,  pant- 
ing with  ambition  and  conscious  of  his  powers,  added  new 
I  lustre  to  his  fame. 

While  the  imperfect  agreement  between  the  members  of 
the  coalition  delayed  the  formation  of  a  ministry,  on  the  third 
of  March,  Pitt,  as  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  presented  a  bill 
framed  after  the  liberal  principles  of  Shelburne.  J  Its  pream- 
ble, which  rightly  described  the  Americans  as  aliens,  declared 

*  Almon,  xxvi.,  341,  352  ;  Life  of  Romilly,  i.,  205. 
f  Moustier  to  Vcrgennes,  1  Marcli  1783.     MS. 

:{:  Fox  in  Moustier  to  Vergennes,  11  April  1783,  MS. ;  Price  in  Life  of  A.  Lee, 
ii.,  349. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN  43 

"  it  liiglilj  expedient  tliat  tlie  intercourse  between  Great 
Britain  and  tlie  United  States  slionld  be  established  on  tlie 
most  enlarged  principles  of  reciprocal  benefit ;"  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence, not  only  were  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  to  be  opened 
to  them  on  the  same  terms  as  to  other  sovereign  states,  but, 
alone  of  the  foreign  world,  their  ships  and  vessels,  laden  with 
the  produce  or  manufactures  of  their  own  country,  might  as  of 
old  enter  all  British  ports  in  America,  paying  no  other  duties 
than  those  imposed  on  British  vessels. 

On  the  seventh  Eden  objected,  saying  :  "  The  bill  will  in- 
troduce a  total  revolution  in  our  commercial  system.  Reci- 
23rocity  with  the  United  States  is  nearly  impracticable,  from 
their  provincial  constitutions.  The  plan  is  utterly  improper, 
for  it  completely  repeals  the  navigation  act.  The  American 
states  lie  so  contiguous  to  our  West  Indian  islands,  they  will 
supply  them  with  provisions  to  the  niin  of  the  provision  trade 
with  Ireland.  We  shall  lose  the  carrying  trade,  for  the  Ameri- 
cans are  to  be  permitted  under  this  bill  to  bring  AYest  Indian 
commodities  to  Europe.  The  Americans  on  their  return  from 
our  ports  may  export  our  manufacturing  tools,  and,  our  artifi- 
cers emigrating  at  the  same  time,  we  shall  see  our  manufac- 
tures transplanted  to  America.  Nothing  more  should  be  done 
than  to  repeal  the  prohibitory  acts  and  vest  the  king  in  coun- 
cil with  powers  for  six  months  to  suspend  such  laws  as  stand 
in  the  way  of  an  amicable  intercourse." 

Pitt  agreed  that  "  the  bill  was  most  complicated  in  its  na- 
ture and  most  extensive  in  its  consequences,"  *  and,  giving  it 
but  faint  support,  he  solicited  the  assistance  and  the  informa- 
tion of  every  one  present  to  mould  it,  so  that  it  might  prove 
most  useful  at  home  and  most  acceptable  in  America.  "  While 
there  is  an  immense  extent  of  unoccupied  territory  to  attract 
the  inhabitants  to  agriculture,"  said  Edmund  Burke,  "  they 
wiU  not  be  able  to  rival  us  in  manufactures.  Do  not  treat 
them  as  aliens.  Let  all  prohibitory  acts  be  repealed,  and  leave 
the  Americans  in  every  respect  as  they  were  before  in  point  of 
trade."  The  clause  authorizing  direct  intercourse  between  the 
United  States  and  the  British  West  India  islands  was  allowed 
to  remain  in  the  report  to  the  house.f 

*  Almon,  xxvi.,  439.  f  Almon,  xxvi.,  503. 


44:  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  m. 

Before  the  bill  was  discussed  again,  the  coalition,  after 
long  delays  caused  bj  almost  fatal  dissensions  among  them- 
selves, had  been  installed.  In  pursuit  of  an  ascendency  in  the 
cabinet,  Lord  North  plumed  himself  on  having  ever  been  a 
consistent  whig ;  believing  that  "  the  appearance  of  power  was 
all  that  a  king  of  England  could  have ;  "  *  and  insisting  that 
during  all  his  ministry  "  he  had  never  attributed  to  the  crown 
any  other  prerogative  than  it  was  acknowledged  to  possess  by 
every  sound  whig  and  by  all  those  authors  who  had  written  on 
the  side  of  liberty."  f  But  he  betrayed  his  friends  by  con- 
tenting himself  with  a  subordinate  office  in  a  cabinet  in 
which  there  would  always  be  a  majority  against  him,  and, 
while  Fox  seized  on  the  lead,  the  nominal  chieftainship  was 
left  to  the  duke  of  Portland,  who  had  neither  capacity  for 
business,  nor  activity,  nor  power  as  a  speaker,  nor  knowledge 
of  liberal  principles. 

The  necessity  of  accepting  a  ministry  so  composed  drove 
the  king  to  the  verge  of  madness.  He  sorrowed  over  "  the 
most  profligate  age  ;  "  "  the  most  unnatural  coalition ;  "  J  and 
he  was  heard  to  use  "  strong  expressions  of  personal  abhorrence 
of  Lord  l^orth,  whom  he  charged  with  treachery  and  ingrati- 
tude of  the  blackest  nature."  *  "  Wait  till  you  see  the  end,"  i| 
said  the  king  to  the  representative  of  France  at  the  next 
levee ;  and  Fox  knew  that  the  chances  in  the  game  were 
against  him,  as  he  called  to  mind  that  he  had  sought  in  vain 
the  support  of  Pitt ;  had  defied  the  king ;  and  had  joined  him- 
self to  colleagues  whom  he  had  taught  liberal  Englishmen  to 
despise,  and  whom  he  himself  could  not  trust. 

In  the  slowly  advancing  changes  of  the  British  constitution, 
the  old  whig  party,  as  first  conceived  by  Shaftesbury  and 
Locke  to  resist  the  democratic  revolution  in  England  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  claim  of  arbitrary  sovereignty  by  the  Stuarts 
on  the  other,  was  near  its  end.  The  time  was  coming  for  the 
people  to  share  in  power.  For  the  rest  of  his  life.  Fox  battled 
for  the  reform  of  the  house  of  commons,  so  that  it  became  the 
rallying  cry  of  the  liberal  party  in  England.     A  ministry  di- 

*  Russell's  Memorials  of  Charles  James  Fox,  ii.,  38.       f  Almon,  xxvi.,  355. 
X  The  king  to  Shelburne,  22  February  1'783.     MS.        *  Memorials  of  Fox,  ii.,  249. 
I  Moustier  to  Vergennes,  3  April  1783.     MS. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN".  45 

vided  witMn  itself  bj  irreconcilable  opinions,  detested  by  the 
king,  confronted  by  a  strong  and  watchful  and  cautious  oj^po- 
sition,  was  forced  to  follow  tbe  line  of  precedents.  The  settle- 
ment of  the  commercial  relations  to  be  established  with  the 
United  States  had  belonged  to  the  treasury ;  it  was  at  once 
brought  by  Fox  within  his  department,  although,  from  his 
ignorance  of  political  economy,  he  could  have  neither  firm 
convictions  nor  a  consistent  policy.  He  was  not,  indeed,  with- 
out glimpses  of  the  benefit  of  liberty  in  trade.  To  him  it  was 
a  problem  how  far  the  act  of  navigation  had  ever  been  useful, 
and  what  ought  to  be  its  fate  ;  *  but  the  bill  in  which  the  late 
ministry  had  begun  to  apply  the  principle  of  free  commerce 
with  America  he  utterly  condemned,  "not,"  as  he  said,  "from 
animosity  toward  Shelburne,  but  because  great  injury  often 
came  from  reducing  commercial  theories  to  practice."  More 
over,  the  house  of  commons  would  insist  on  much  deliberation 
and  very  much  inquiry  before  it  would  sacrifice  the  navigation 
act  to  the  circumstances  of  the  present  crisis.f 

In  judging  his  conduct,  it  must  be  considered  that  the 
changes  in  the  opinion  of  a  people  come  from  the  slow  evolu- 
tion of  thought  in  the  public  mind.  One  of  the  poets  of  Eng- 
land, in  the  flush  of  youth,  had  prophesied : 

"  The  time  shall  come  when,  free  as  seas  or  wind, 
Unbounded  Thames  shall  flow  for  all  mankind. 
Whole  nations  enter  with  each  swelling  tide. 
And  seas  but  join  the  regions  they  divide." 
More  than  half  a  century  must  pass  away  before  the  prophecy 
will  come  true  by  the  efforts  of  statesmen,  who,  had  Fox  Kved 
in  their  time,  might  have  shared  their  indecision. 

The  coalition  cabinet  at  its  first  meeting  agreed  to  yield  no 
part  of  the  navigation  act, :[:  and,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  to  put 
off  the  bill  before  parliament  relating  to  commerce  with  Amer- 
ica "  till  some  progress  should  be  made  in  a  negotiation  with 
the  American  commissioners  at  Paris."  Thither  without  delay 
Fox  sent,  as  minister  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  David  Hart- 
ley, a  friend  of  Franklin  and  a  well-wisher  to  the  United  States. 

*  Moustier  to  Vergennes,  11  April  1 18S.    MS. 

f  Fox  to  Hartley,  10  June  1Y83.     MS. 

X  Fox  to  the  king,  Memorials  of  Fox,  ii.,  122. 


4:6  THE   CONFEDERATION^.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  m. 

The  avowed  liberal  opinions  of  Hartley  raising  distrust, 
Lord  Sheffield,  a  supporter  of  the  ministry,  and,  on  trade  with 
America,  the  master  authority  of  that  day  for  parliament,  im- 
mediately sounded  an  alarm.  "  Let  the  ministers  know,"  said 
he  on  the  fifteenth,  in  the  house  of  lords,  "  the  country  is  as 
tenacious  of  the  principle  of  the  navigation  act  as  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  ]\Iagna  Charta.  They  must  not  allow  America  to  take 
British  colonial  produce  to  ports  in  Europe.  They  must  re- 
serve to  our  remaining  dominions  the  exclusive  trade  to  the 
"Wcot  India  islands  ;  otherwise,  the  only  use  of  them  will  be 
lost.  If  we  permit  any  state  to  trade  with  our  islands  or  to 
carry  into  this  country  any  produce  but  its  own,  we  desert  the 
navigation  act  and  sacrifice  the  marine  of  England.  The  peace 
is  in  comparison  a  trifling  object."  *  But  there  was  no  need 
of  fear  lest  Fox  should  yield  too  much.  In  his  instructions  to 
Hartley,  he  was  for  taking  the  lion's  share,  as  Yergennes  truly 
said.f  He  proposed  that  the  manufactures  of  the  thirteen 
states  should  as  a  matter  of  course  be  excluded  from  Great 
Britain,  but  that  British  manufactures  should  be  admitted 
everywhere  in  the  United  States.  While  America  was  de- 
pendent, parliament  had  taxed  importations  of  its  produce, 
but  British  ships  and  manufactures  entered  the  colonies  free  of 
duty.  "  The  true  object  of  the  treaty  in  this  business,"  so  Fox 
enforced  his  plan,  "  is  the  mutual  admission  of  ships  and  mer- 
chandise free  from  any  new  duty  or  imposition  ; "  :j;  that  is, 
the  Americans  on  their  side  should  leave  the  British  navigation 
act  in  full  force  and  renounce  all  right  to  establish  an  act  of 
navigation  of  their  own  ;  should  continue  to  pay  duties  in  the 
British  ports  on  their  own  produce  ;  and  receive  in  their  own 
ports  British  produce  and  manufactures  duty  free.  One  sub- 
ject appealed  successfully  to  the  generous  side  of  his  nature. 
To  the  earnest  wish  of  Jay  that  British  ships  should  have  no 
right  under  the  convention  to  carry  into  the  states  any  slaves 
from  any  part  of  the  world,  it  being  the  intention  of  the 
United  States  entirely  to  prohibit  their  importation,*  Fox 
answered  promptly :  "  If  that  be  their  policy,  it  never  can  be 

*  Almon,  xxvi.,  615.  f  Works  of  John  Adams,  Hi.,  380. 

X  Fox  to  Hartley,  10  April  1783.     MS.  ^ 

^  June  IT  S3.     Diplomatic  Correspondence,  x,,  154. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN.  47 

competent  to  us  to  dis^Dute  with  them  their  own  regulations."  * 
In  like  spirit,  to  formal  complaints  that  Carleton,  "  in  the  face 
of  the  treaty,  persisted  in  sending  off  negroes  by  hundreds," 
Fox  made  answer :  "  To  have  restored  negroes  whom  we  in- 
vited, seduced  if  you  will,  under  a  promise  of  liberty,  to  the 
tyranny  and  possibly  to  the  vengeance  of  their  former  masters, 
would  have  been  such  an  act  as  scarce  any  orders  from  his 
employers  (and  no  such  orders  exist)  could  have  induced  a 
man  of  honor  to  execute."  f 

The  dignity  and  interests  of  the  republic  were  safe,  for 
they  were  conlided  to  Adams,  Franklin,  and  Jay.  In  America 
there  existed  as  yet  no  system  of  restrictions ;  and  congress 
had  not  power  to  protect  shipping  or  establish  a  custom-house. 
The  states  as  dependencies  had  been  so  severely  and  so  wan- 
tonly cramped  by  British  navigation  acts,  and  for  more  than  a 
century  had  so  steadily  resisted  them,  that  the  desire  of  abso- 
lute freedom  of  commerce  had  become  a  part  of  their  nature. 
The  American  commissioners  were  very  much  pleased  with 
the  trade-bill  of  Pitt,  and  with  the  principles  expressed  in  its 
preamble ;  the  debates  upon  it  in  parHament  awakened  their 
distrust.  They  were  ready  for  an}^  event,  having  but  the  one 
simple  and  invariable  policy  of  reciprocity.  Their  choice  and 
their  offer  was  mutual  unconditional  free  trade  ;  but,  however 
narrow  might  be  the  Kmits  which  England  should  impose,  they 
were  resolved  to  insist  on  like  for  like. :[:  The  British  commis- 
sioner was  himself  in  favor  of  the  largest  liberty  for  commerce, 
but  he  was  reproved  by  Fox  for  transmitting  a  proposition  not 
authorized  by  his  instructions.  ^/^J-  * 

A  debate  in  the  house  of  lords  on  the  sixth  of  May  revealed  (  Jr^ 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  conviction  was  spreading  that  J  <p,-v-^ 
America  had  no  power  to  adopt  measures  of  defensive  legisla-  rTj^^^  ^ 
tion.  There  were  many  who  considered  the  United  States  as  ^p>./v^ 
having  no  government  at  all,  and  there  were  some  who  looked  u^^ 
for  the  early  dissolution  of  the  governments  even  of  the  sepa-  v A> 
rate  states.  Lord  Walsingham,  accordingly,  proposed  that  the 
law  for  admitting  American  ships  should  apply  not  merely  to 
the  ships  of  the  United  States,  but  to  ships  belonging  to  any 

*  Fox  to  Hartley,  10  June  1783.     MS.  f  Fox  to  Hartley,  9  August  1T83. 

X  Hartley  to  Fox,  20  May  1783.     MS. 


48  THE  CONFEDERATION".  b.  i.  ;  oh.  m. 

one  of  the  states  and  to  any  ship  or  vessel  belonging  to  any  of 
the  inhabitants  thereof.  He  was  supported  by  Thurlow,  who 
said :  "  I  have  read  an  account  which  stated  the  government  of 
America  to  be  totally  unsettled,  and  that  each  province  seemed 
intent  on  establishing  a  distinct,  independent,  sovereign  state. 
If  this  is  really  the  case,  the  amendment  will  be  highly  neces- 
sary and  proper."  *  The  amendment  was  dropped ;  and  the 
bill  under  discussion,  in  its  final  shape,  repealed  prohibitory 
acts  made  during  the  war,  removed  the  formalities  which  at- 
tended the  admission  of  ships  from  the  colonies  during  their 
state  of  dependency,  and  for  a  hmited  time  left  the  power  of 
regulating  commerce  with  America  to  the  king  in  council. 

Immediately  the  proclamation  of  an  order  in  council  of 
the  second  of  July  confined  the  trade  between  the  American 
states  and  the  British  West  India  islands  to  British-built  ships 
owned  and  navigated  "  by  British  subjects."  "  Undoubtedly," 
wrote  the  king,  "  the  Americans  cannot  expect  nor  ever  will 
receive  any  favor  from  me."f  To  an  American,  Fox  said : 
"  For  myself,  I  have  no  objection  to  opening  the  West  India 
trade  to  the  Americans,  but  there  are  many  parties  to  please."  J 

The  blow  fell  heavily  on  America,  and  compelled  a  read- 
justment of  its  industry.  Ships  had  been  its  great  manufac- 
ture for  exportation.  For  nicety  of  workmanship,  the  pahn 
was  awarded  to  Philadelphia,  but  nowhere  could  they  be  built 
so  cheaply  as  at  Boston.  More  than  one  third  of  the  tonnage 
employed  in  British  commerce  before  the  war  was  of  Ameri- 
can construction.  Britain  renounced  this  resource.  The  con- 
tinent and  West  India  islands  had  prospered  by  the  convenient 
interchange  of  their  produce ;  the  trade  between  nearest  and 
friendliest  neighbors  was  forbidden,  till  England  should  find 
out  that  she  was  waging  war  against  a  higher  power  than 
the  United  States  ;  that  her  adversary  was  nature  itseK.  Her 
statesmen  confounded  the  "  navigation  act "  and  "  the  marine 
of  Britain ; "  *  the  one  the  offspring  of  selfishness,  the  other 
the  sublime  display  of  the  creative  power  of  a  free  people, 

*  Almon,  xxviii.,  180,  181. 

f  Correspondence  of  George  III.  with  Lord  North,  ii.,  442. 
X  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  1783-1787,  ii.,  513 ;  Fox  to  Hartley,  10  June 
1783.    MS.  *  Sheffield's  Commerce  of  the  American  States,  preface,  10. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN.  49 

Such  was  the  issue  between  the  ancient  nation  which  falsely  j 
and  foolishly  and  mischievously  believed  that  its  superiority  \ 
in  commerce  was  due  to  artificial  legislation,  and  a  young  peo-   \ 
pie  which  solicited  free  trade.     Yet  thrice  blessed  was  this 
assertion  of  monopoly  by  an  ignorant  parliament,  for  it  went 
forth  as  a  summons  to  the  commercial  and  the  manufacturing 
interests  of  the  American  states  and  to  the  self-respect  and 
patriotism  of  their  citizens  to  speak  an  efficient  government 
into  being. 

Full  of  faith  in  the  rising  power  of  America,  Jay,  on  the 
seventeenth  of  July,  wrote  to  Gouverneur  Morris :  "  The  pres- 
ent ministry  are  duped  by  an  opinion  of  our  not  having  union 
and  energy  sufficient  to  retaliate  their  restrictions.  JSTo  time  is 
to  be  lost  in  raising  and  maintaining  a  national  spirit  in  Amer- 
ica. Power  to  govern  the  confederacy  as  to  all  general  pur- 
poses should  be  granted  and  exercised.  In  a  word,  everthing 
conducive  to  union  and  constitutional  energy  should  be  culti- 
vated, cherished,  and  protected."  *  Two  days  later  he  wrote 
to  William  Livingston  of  ]^ew  Jersey :  "  A  continental,  na- 
tional spirit  should  pervade  our  country,  and  congress  should 
be  enabled,  by  a  grant  of  the  necessary  powers,  to  regulate  the 
commerce  and  general  concerns  of  the  confederacy."  On  the 
same  day,  meeting  Hartley,  the  British  envoy,  Jay  said  to 
him :  "  The  British  ministry  will  find  us  like  a  globe — not  to 
be  overset.  They  wish  to  be  the  only  carriers  between  their 
islands  and  other  countries  ;  and  though  they  are  apprized  of 
our  right  to  regulate  our  trade  as  we  please,  yet  I  suspect  they 
flatter  themselves  that  the  different  states  possess  too  little 
of  a  national  or  continental  spirit  ever  to  agree  in  any  one  na- 
tional system.  I  think  they  will  find  themselves  mistaken." 
"  The  British  ministers,"  so  Gouverneur  Morris  in  due  time 
replied  to  Jay,  "  are  deceived,  for  their  conduct  itself  will 
give  congress  a  power  to  retahate  their  restrictions. f  This 
country  has  never  yet  been  known  in  Europe,  least  of  all  to 
England,  because  they  constantly  view  it  through  a  medium 
of  prejudice  or  of  faction.  True  it  is  that  the  general  gov- 
ernment wants   energy,  and  equally  true  it  is  that  this  want 

*  Jay  to  G.  Morris,  17  July  1783.     Sparks's  Life  of  G.  Morris, !.,  258. 
f  Gouverneur  Morris  to  Jay,  24  September  1783.    Sparks's  G.  Morris,  i.,  259. 
yoL.  VI. — 4 


50  THE  CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  ch.  m. 

will  eventually  be  supplied.  Do  not  ask  the  Britisli  to  take 
oft'  their  foolish  restrictions ;  the  present  regulation  does  us 
more  political  good  than  commercial  mischief."  * 

On  the  side  of  those  in  England  who  were  wilHng  to  ac- 
cept the  doctrines  of  free  trade,  Josiah  Tucker,  the  dean  of 
Gloucester,  remarked :  "  As  to  the  future  grandeur  of  Amer- 
ica, and  its  being  a  rising  empire,  under  one  head,  whether 
repubhcan  or  monarchical,  it  is  one  of  the  idlest  and  most 
visionary  notions  that  ever  was  conceived  even  by  writers  of 
romance.  The  mutual  antipathies  and  clashing  interests  of  the 
Americans,  their  difference  of  governments,  habitudes,  and 
manners,  indicate  that  they  will  have  no  centre  of  union  and 
no  common  interest.  They  never  can  be  united  into  one  com- 
pact empire  under  any  species  of  government  whatever ;  a  dis- 
united people  till  the  end  of  time,  suspicious  and  distrustful 
of  each  other,  they  will  be  divided  and  subdivided  into  little 
commonwealths  or  principalities,  according  to  natural  bounda- 
ries, by  great  bays  of  the  sea,  and  by  vast  rivers,  lakes,  and 
ridges  of  mountains."  f 

The  principle  of  trade  adopted  by  the  coalition  ministry 
Sheffield  set  forth  with  authority  in  a  pamphlet,  which  was 
accepted  as  an  oracle.  "  There  should  be  no  treaty  with  the 
American  states  because  they  will  not  place  England  on  a  bet- 
ter footing  than  France  and  Holland,  and  equal  rights  will  be 
enjoyed  of  course  without  a  treaty.  The  nominal  subjects  of 
congress  in  the  distant  and  boundless  regions  of  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  will  speedily  imitate  and  multiply  the  exam- 
ples of  independence.  It  will  not  be  an  easy  matter  to  bring 
the  American  states  to  act  as  a  nation ;  they  are  not  to  be 
feared  as  such  by  us.  The  confederation  does  not  enable  con- 
gress to  form  more  than  general  treaties ;  when  treaties  be- 
come necessary,  they  must  be  made  with  the  states  separately. 
Each  state  has  reserved  every  power  relative  to  imposts,  ex- 
ports, prohibitions,  duties,  etc.,  to  itseK.  :j:  If  the  American 
states  choose  to  send  consuls,  receive  them  and  send  a  consul 
to  each  state.     Each  state  will  soon  enter  into  all  necessary 

*  Gouverneur  Morris  to  Jay,  10  January  178-1.     Ibid.,  266,  267. 

f  Dean  Tucker's  Cui  Bono,  1781,  117-119. 

X  Sheffield's  Commerce  of  the  American  States,  183,  190,  191,  198-200. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN.  51 

regulations  with  the  consul,  and  this  is  the  whole  that  is  neces- 
sary.* The  American  states  will  not  have  a  very  free  trade 
in  the  Mediterranean,  if  the  Barbary  states  know  their  inter- 
ests. That  the  Barbary  states  are  advantageous  to  the  mari- 
time powers  is  certain ;  if  they  were  suppressed,  little  states 
would  have  nmch  more  of  the  carrying  trade.  The  armed 
neutrality  would  be  as  hurtful  to  the  great  maritime  powers  as 
the  Barbary  states  are  useful."  f 

In  London  it  was  a  maxim  among  the  merchants  that,  if 
there  were  no  Algiers,  it  would  be  worth  England's  while  to 
build  one.  :j: 

Already  the  navigation  act  was  looked  to  as  a  protection  to 
Enghsh  commerce,  because  it  would  require  at  least  three 
fourths  of  the  crews  of  American  ships  to  be  Americans ;  and 
they  pretended  that  during  the  war  three  fourths  of  the  crews 
of  the  American  privateers  were  Europeans.*  The  exclusion 
of  European  seamen  from  service  in  the  American  marine  was 
made  a  part  of  British  policy  from  the  first  establishment  of 
the  peace. 

In  August,  Laurens,  by  the  advice  of  his  associates,  came 
over  to  England  to  inquire  whether  a  minister  from  the  United 
States  of  America  would  be  properly  received.  "  Most  un- 
doubtedly," answered  Fox,  and  Laurens  left  England  in  that 
belief,  j  But  the  king,  when  his  pleasure  was  taken,  said :  "  I 
certainly  can  never  express  its  being  agreeable  to  me ;  and, 
indeed,  I  should  think  it  wisest  for  both  parties  to  have  only 
agents  who  can  settle  any  matters  of  commerce.  That  revolted 
state  certainly  for  years  cannot  establish  a  stable  government."  ^ 
The  plan  at  court  was  to  divide  the  United  States,  and  for 
that  end  to  receive  only  consuls  from  each  one  of  the  separate 
states  and  not  a  minister  for  the  whole.  ^ 

British  statesmen  had  begun  to  regret  that  any  treaty 
whatever  had  been  made  with  the  United  States  collectively ; 
they  would  have  granted  independence  and  peace,  but  without 

*  Sheffield's  Commerce  of  the  United  States,  211.  f  Ibid.,  204,  206,  note. 
I  Franklin  in  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  iv.,  149. 

*  Sheffield's  Commerce  of  the  American  States,  205,  note. 
I  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  ii.,  510-515. 

^  King  to  Fox,  7  August  1783  ;  Memorials  of  Fox,  ii.,  141. 
0  Adh^mar  to  Vergennes,  7  August  1783.     MS. 


52  THE  CONFEDERATION  b.i.;oh.iii. 

furtlier  stipulations  of  any  kind,  so  tliat  all  other  questions 
might  have  been  left  at  loose  ends.  Even  Fox  was  disinclined 
to  impart  any  new  Hfe  to  the  provisional  articles  agreed  upon 
by  the  ministry  which  he  supplanted.  He  repeatedly  avowed 
the  opinion  that  "  a  definitive  treaty  with  the  United  States 
was  perfectly  superfluous."  *  The  American  commissioners 
became  uneasy ;  but  Yergennes  pledged  himself  not  to  pro- 
ceed without  them,f  and  Fox  readily  yielded.  On  the  third 
of  September,  when  the  minister  of  France  and  the  ambassa- 
dors of  Great  Britain  and  Spain  concluded  their  conventions 
at  Versailles,  the  American  provisional  articles,  shaped  into  a 
definitive  treaty,  were  signed  by  Hartley  for  Great  Britain ;  by 
Adams,  Franklin,  and  Jay  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  coalition  ministry  did  not  last  long  enough  to  exchange 
ratifications.  To  save  the  enormous  expense  of  maintaining 
the  British  army  in  ITew  York,  Fox  hastened  its  departure ; 
but  while  "  the  speedy  and  complete  evacuation  of  all  the  ter- 
ritories of  the  United  States  "  J  was  authoritatively  promised 
to  the  American  commissioners  at  Paris  in  the  name  of  the 
king.  Lord  North,  acting  on  the  petition  of  merchants  inter- 
ested in  the  Canada  trade,*  withheld  orders  for  the  evacuation 
of  the  western  and  north-western  interior  posts,  although  by 
the  treaty  they  were  as  much  an  integral  part  of  the  United 
States  as  Albany  or  Boston ;  and  this  policy,  like  that  relating 
to  commerce,  was  continued  by  the  ministry  that  succeeded 
him. 

We  may  not  turn  away  from  England  without  relating 
that  Pitt  for  the  second  time  proposed  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons, though  in  vain,  a  change  in  the  representation,  by  intro- 
ducing one  hundred  new  members  from  the  counties  and  from 
the  metropohs.  Universal  suffrage  he  condemned,  and  the 
privilege  of  the  owners  of  rotten  boroughs  to  name  members 
of  parliament  had  for  him  the  sanctity  of  private  property,  to 

*  Fox  to  duke  of  Manchester,  9  August  1783.     Same  to  same,  4  August  1783. 
MS.     Same  to  Hartley  4  August  1783.     MS. 

f  Hartley  to  Fox,  31  July  1783.     MS. 

X  Fox  to  Hartley,   10  June  1783.     MS.     Compare  Fox  to  Hartley,  15  May 
1783.     MS. 

*  Regulations  proposed  by  the  merchants  interested  in  the  trade  to  the  prov- 
ince of  Quebec,  1783.    MS. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND  GREAT  BRITAIN.  63 

be  taken  away  only  after  compensation.  "Mankind,"  said 
Fox,  "are  made  for  themselves,  not  for  others.  The  best 
government  is  that  in  which  the  people  have  the  greatest  share. 
The  present  motion  will  not  go  far  enough ;  but,  as  it  is  an 
amendment,  I  give  it  my  hearty  support." 

An  early  and  a  most  beneficent  result  of  the  American 
revolution  was  a  reform  of  the  British  colonial  system.  Taxa- 
tion of  colonies  by  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain,  treat- 
ment of  them  as  worthless  except  as  drudges  for  the  enrich- 
ment of  the  ruling  kingdom,  plans  of  governing  them  on  the 
maxims  of  a  Hillsborough  or  a  Thurlow,"^  came  to  an  end.  It 
grew  to  be  the  rule  to  give  them  content  by  the  establishment 
of  liberal  constitutions. 

*  SheflSeld's  Commerce  of  the  American  States,  1Y5-180. 


54  THE  CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  iv. 


CHAPTEE  lY. 

AIMEKICA   AITD   CONTINENTAL   EUROPE. 
1783. 

The  governments  of  continental  Europe  vied  with  eacli 
other  in  welcoming  the  new  republic  to  its  place  among  the 
powers  of  the  world.  In  May  1782,  as  soon  as  it  was  known 
at  Stockholm  that  the  negotiations  for  peace  were  begun,  the 
adventurous  king  of  Sweden  sent  messages  of  his  desire, 
through  Franklin  above  all  others,  to  enter  into  a  treaty  with 
the  United  States.  Franklin  promptly  accepted  the  invita- 
tion. The  ambassador  of  Gustavus  at  Paris  remarked :  "  I 
hope  it  will  be  remembered  that  Sweden  was  the  first  power 
in  Europe  which,  without  being  sohcited,  offered  its  friendship 
to  the  United  States."  *  Exactly  five  months  before  the  de- 
finitive peace  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  was 
signed,  the  treaty  with  Sweden  was  concluded.  Each  party 
was  put  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nations.  Free 
ships  were  to  make  passengers  free  as  well  as  goods.  Liberty 
of  commerce  was  to  extend  to  all  kinds  of  merchandise.  The 
number  of  contraband  articles  was  carefully  hmited.  In  case 
of  a  maritime  war  in  which  both  the  contracting  parties  should 
remain  neutral,  their  ships  of  war  were  to  protect  and  assist 
each  other's  vessels.  The  treaty  was  ratified  and  proclaimed 
in  the  United  States  before  the  definitive  treaty  with  Great 
Britain  had  arrived.f 

The  successful  termination  of  the  war  aroused  in  Prussia 
hope  for  the  new  birth  of  Europe,  that,  by  the  teachings  of 
America,  despotism  might  be  struck  down,  and  the  caste  of 

*  Franklin's  Works,  ix.,  342.  f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  241. 


1783.  AMERICA  AN^D   CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  55 

hereditary  nobility  give  place  to  republican  equality.  These 
aspirations  were  suffered  to  be  printed  at  Berlin.* 

The  great  Frederick  had,  late  in  1Y82,  declared  to  the 
British  minister  at  his  court,  half  in  earnest  and  half  cajoling, 
that  "  he  was  persuaded  the  American  union  could  not  long 
subsist  under  its  present  form.  The  great  extent  of  country 
would  alone  be  a  sufficient  obstacle,  since  a  republican  govern- 
ment had  never  been  known  to  exist  for  any  length  of  time 
where  the  territory  was  not  limited  and  concentred.  It  would 
not  be  more  absurd  to  propose  the  establishment  of  a  democ- 
racy to  govern  the  whole  country  from  Brest  to  Riga.  JSTo 
inference  could  be  drawn  from  the  states  of  Yenice,  Holland, 
and  Switzerland,  of  which  the  situation  and  circumstances 
were  perfectly  different  from  those  of  the  colonies."  f  He 
did  not  know  the  power  of  the  representative  system.-,  nor  could 
he  foresee  that  by  the  wise  use  of  it  the  fourth  of  his  succes- 
sors would  evoke  the  German  state  from  the  eclipse  of  centu- 
ries, to  shine  with  replenished  light  as  the  empire  of  a  people. 
For  the  moment  he  kept  close  watch  of  the  progress  of  the 
convention  with  Sweden,  and,  so  soon  as  it  was  signed,  directed 
his  minister  in  France  to  make  overtures  to  Franklin,  which 
were  most  gladly  received.  :j: 

Full  seven  months  before  the  peace  a  member  of  the 
government  at  Brussels  intimated  to  William  Lee,  a  former 
commissioner  of  congress  at  the  court  of  "Vienna,  that  Joseph 
II.,  who  at  that  time  harbored  the  hope  of  restoring  to  Belgian 
commerce  its  rights  by  opening  the  Scheldt  and  so  preparing 
the  way  for  a  direct  trade  with  America,  was  disposed  to  enter 
into  a  treaty  with  the  United  States.*  Soon  after  the  pre- 
hminaries  of  peace  between  France  and  Great  Britain  had  been 
signed,  the  emperor  let  it  be  insinuated  to  Franklin  that  he 
would  be  well  received  at  Vienna  as  the  minister  of  a  sovereign 
power.  II     In  the  following  year  an  agent  was  sent  from  Bel- 

*  Die  Freiheit  Amerika's.     Ode  vom  Herra  Pr.  J.  E.  H.     Berlinische  Monats- 
schrift,  April  1783,  386.     See  J.  Scherr's  Kultur  und  Sittengescbichte,  508,  619. 

f  Sir  John  Stepney  to  secretary  of  state,  22  October  1782.     MS. 
X  Goltz  to  Frederick,  3  March,  28  April,  80  June  1783.     MSS. 

*  William  Lee  to  secretary  of  foreign   affairs,  31  March  1782,  Diplomatic 
Correspondence,  ii.,  360. 

I  Letter  to  Franklin  from  Vienna,  8  April  1*783,  Franklin's  Works,  ix.,  501. 


56  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  ch.  iv. 

gium  to  the  United  States.  The  Belgians  produced  in  unsur- 
passed excellence  manufactures  which  America  needed;  but 
they  were  not  enterprising  enough  to  estabhsh  houses  in  Amer- 
ica, or  to  grant  its  merchants  the  extended  credits  which  were 
offered  in  England."^  The  subject  gained  less  and  less  atten- 
tion, for  the  emperor  was  compelled,  in  violation  of  natural 
rights,  to  suffer  the  Scheldt  to  be  closed. 

On  the  twenty  -  second  of  February  1783,  Eosencrone, 
minister  of  foreign  affairs  in  Denmark,  communicated  to 
Franklin  "  the  satisfaction  with  which  the  king's  ministry  had 
learned  the  glorious  issue  of  the  war  for  the  United  States  of 
America,"  and  their  desire  to  form  connections  of  friendship 
and  commerce.  "  To  overtures  for  a  treaty  like  that  between 
congress  and  the  states  general,"  he  added,  "  we  should  eagerly 
and  frankly  reply."  But  a  question  of  indemnity  for  viola- 
tions of  neutrality  by  Denmark  during  the  war  impeded  the 
negotiation. 

Before  the  end  of  March  the  burgomaster  and  senate  of 
the  imperial  free  city  of  Hamburg,  seeing  "  European  powers 
courting  in  rivalry  the  friendship  of "  the  new  state,  and  im- 
pressed with  "the  illustrious  event"  of  the  acknowledged  in- 
dependence of  America  as  "the  wonder  of  that  age  and  of 
remotest  ages  to  come,"  deputed  one  of  their  citizens  to  bear 
to  congress  their  letter,  offering  free  trade  between  the  two 
republics. 

In  midsummer,  1783,  Portugal  made  overtures  to  treat 
with  Franklin,  but  did  not  persist  in  them. 

Bussia  was  at  that  time  too  much  engrossed  by  affairs  in 
the  East  to  take  thought  for  opening  new  channels  of  com- 
merce with  the  "West ;  and  the  United  States,  recalling  their 
minister,  declined  to  make  advances.  But  the  two  nations, 
without  any  mutual  stipulations,  had  rendered  each  other  the 
most  precious  services.  Catherine  had  scornfully  refused  to 
lend  troops  to  George  III.,  rejected  his  entreaties  for  an  alli- 
ance, and  by  the  armed  neutrality  insulated  his  kingdom ;  the 
United  States,  by  giving  full  employment  to  the  maritime 
powers,  had  made  for  the  empress  the  opportunity  of  annex- 
ing to  her  dominions  the  plains  of  Kuban  and  the  Crimea. 

*  Correspondence  of  the  Austrian  agent,  Baron  de  Beelen  Bertholff.    MS. 


1783.  AMERICA  AND   CONTINENTAL  EUROPE.  57 

Of  the  chief  commercial  nations  of  Europe,  Holland  enter- 
tained for  America  the  most  friendly  sentiments,  invited  her 
trade,  and  readily  granted  to  her  congress  all  the  credit  which 
it  had  any  right  to  expect. 

The  independence  of  the  United  States  gave  umbrage  to 
the  Spanish  court.  Galvez,  the  minister  of  the  colonies,  was 
fiercely  and  persistently  hostile  to  the  extent  of  the  United 
States  in  the  South-west.  Florida  Blanca  himself  wished  for 
amicable  rectifications  of  the  boundary;  but,  on  the  remon- 
strances of  Lafayette,  he,  in  the  presence  of  the  ambassador  of 
France,  pledged  his  word  of  honor  to  accept  the  boundary  as 
laid  down  in  the  Anglo-American  treaty,  and  authorized  La- 
fayette to  bind  him  with  congress  to  that  pledge.  The  Spanish 
statesmen  feared  the  loss  of  their  own  colonies,  and  the  success 
of  the  American  revolution  excited  new  and  never-ceasing 
alarm.  They  could  have  wished  that  North  America  might 
disappear  from  the  face  of  the  earth ;  but  they  tried  to  recon- 
cile themselves  to  living  in  good  harmony  with  the  United 
States.     The  Mississippi  was  the  great  source  of  anxiety. 

Spain  thought  it  not  for  her  interest  that  the  American 
states  should  consolidate  their  union.  She  had  dreaded  the 
neighborhood  of  English  colonies  to  her  own;  she  dreaded 
still  more  to  border  all  the  way  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  foun- 
tains of  the  Mississippi  on  a  republic  whose  colossal  growth 
was  distinctly  foreseen.  Besides  this,  the  suppression  of  a 
rebellion  in  South  America  had  just  cost  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  lives;  and  the  difficulty  of  governing  distant  and 
boundless  regions  was  so  great  that  Aranda,  the  far-sighted 
statesman  who  had  signed  the  treaty  of  peace,  in  his  official 
dispatches  to  Florida  Blanca,  set  forth  the  opinion  that  Por- 
tugal would  be  worth  more  to  Spain  than  all  the  American 
main-land.  Of  the  islands  he  never  depreciated  the  value ;  but 
he  clearly  perceived  how  precarious  was  the  hold  of  Spain  on 
her  continental  possessions ;  and  he  left  on  record  the  advice, 
which  he  may  never  have  had  an  opportunity  to  offer  person- 
ally to  his  king,  that  Spain  should  transform  all  the  vice-royal- 
ties in  America  into  secundo-genitures,  retaining  in  direct 
dependence  only  Cuba  and  Porto  Kico.* 

*  Ferro  del  Rio,  iii.,  460,  407,  note.     Muriel,  vi,  45-54.     Revista  Espanola  de 


58  THE   COirrEDERATION'.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  iv. 

Even  Yergennes,  while  he  believed  that  the  attachment  of 
America  to  the  alliance  would  be  safest  if  the  confederation 
could  keep  itself  alive,  held  it  best  for  France  that  the  United 
States  should  fail  to  attain  the  political  consistency  of  which 
he  saw  that  they  were  susceptible ;  and  he  remained  a  tranquil 
spectator  of  their  efforts  for  a  better  constitution.  Lafayette 
not  only  watched  over  the  interests  of  America  in  Europe, 
but  to  the  president  of  congress  and  to  the  secretary  for  for- 
eign affairs  he  sent  messages  imploring  American  patriots  to 
strengthen  the  federal  union. 

Ambos  Mundos,  for  May  1855,  written  by  Ferro  del  Rio.  In  his  letter  on  ex- 
changing for  Portugal  the  Spanish  possessions  in  America,  Aranda  writes,  "  ex- 
ceptuando  las  islas."     The  train  of  thought  is  the  same. 


1783.  A  CALL  ON  THE  AKMY  TO  INTERPOSE.  69 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

A   CALL   0:N"   the   AK^IY   to   mTEEPOSE. 

Januaey-March  1783. 

In  the  fall  of  1782  tlie  main  aimj  was  moved  for  winter 
quarters  to  the  wooded  hills  in  the  rear  of  Newbnrg.  No  part 
of  the  community  had  undergone  equal  hardships  or  borne 
injustice  with  equal  patriotism.  In  the  leisure  of  the  camp  thej 
brooded  over  their  wrongs  and  their  chances  of  redress,  and  at 
the  close  of  the  year  the  officers  sent  to  Philadelphia  as  their 
committee  Major-General  Macdougall  and  Colonels  Ogdeh  and 
Brooks,  who,  in  their  address  of  the  sixth  of  January  1783, 
used  these  words : 

"  To  the  United  States  in  congress  assembled :  "We,  the 
officers  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  in  behaK  of  ourselves 
and  our  brethren  the  soldiers,  beg  leave  freely  to  state  to  the 
supreme  power,  our  head  and  sovereign,  the  great  distress 
under  which  we  labor.  Our  embarrassments  thicken  so  fast 
that  many  of  us  are  unable  to  go  farther.  Shadows  have  been 
offered  to  us,  while  the  substance  has  been  gleaned  by  others. 
The  citizens  murmur  at  the  greatness  of  their  taxes,  and  no 
part  reaches  the  army.  We  have  borne  all  that  men  can  bear. 
Our  property  is  expended ;  our  private  resources  are  at  an  end. 
We  therefore  beg  that  a  supply  of  money  may  be  forwarded 
to  the  army  as  soon  as  possible. 

"  The  uneasiness  of  the  soldiers  for  want  of  pay  is  great 
and  dangerous;  further  experiments  on  their  patience  may 
have  fatal  effects.  There  is  a  balance  due  for  retained  rations, 
forage,  and  arrearages  on  the  score  of  clothing.  Whenever 
there  has  been  a  real  want  of  means,  defect  in  system,  or 


60  THE  CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  ch.  v. 

neglect  in  execution,  we  liave  invariably  been  the  sufferers  by 
hunger  and  nakedness,  and  by  languishing  in  a  hospital.  "We 
beg  leave  to  urge  an  immediate  adjustment  of  all  dues. 

"  We  see  with  chagrin  the  odious  point  of  view  in  which 
the  citizens  of  too  many  of  the  states  endeavor  to  place  the 
men  entitled  to  half -pay.  For  the  honor  of  human  nature  we 
hope  that  there  are  none  so  hardened  in  the  sin  of  ingratitude 
as  to  deny  the  justice  of  the  reward.  To  prevent  altercations, 
we  are  willing  to  commute  the  half -pay  pledged  for  full-pay 
for  a  certain  number  of  years,  or  for  a  sum  in  gross.  And 
in  this  we  pray  that  the  disabled  officers  and  soldiers,  with  the 
widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  have  expended,  or  may  ex- 
pend, their  lives  in  the  service  of  their  country,  may  be  fully 
comprehended. 

''  General  dissatisfaction  is  gaining  ground  in  the  army, 
from  evils  and  injuries  which,  in  the  course  of  seven  long 
years,  have  made  their  condition  in  many  instances  wretched. 
They  therefore  entreat  that  congress,  to  convince  the  army 
and  the  world  that  the  independence  of  America  shall  not  be 
placed  on  the  ruin  of  any  particular  class  of  her  citizens,  will 
point  out  a  mode  for  immediate  redress." 

The  grand  committee  to  whom  the  memorial  was  referred 
held  a  conference  with  the  superintendent  of  finance.  He  de- 
clared peremptorily  that  it  was  impossible,  in  the  present  state 
of  the  finances,  to  make  any  payment  to  the  army,  and  that  it 
would  be  imprudent  to  give  assurances  with  regard  to  future 
pay  until  funds  that  could  be  relied  upon  should  be  estab- 
Hshed.  Not  only  had  he  no  money  in  hand,  but  he  had  over- 
drawn his  account  in  Europe  to  the  amount  of  three  and  a  half 
milHons  of  Hvres.  He  therefore  asked  a  decision  on  the  ex- 
pediency of  staking  the  public  credit  on  further  drafts  to  be 
met  by  the  contingent  proceeds  of  a  loan  from  the  Dutch  and 
by  the  friendship  of  France.  On  the  tenth  of  January,  con- 
gress, under  an  injunction  of  secrecy,  authorized  the  superin- 
tendent to  draw  bills  on  the  credit  of  applications  for  loans  in 
Europe.  Dyer  of  Connecticut  alone  opposed  the  measure  as 
unwarranted  and  dishonorable,  but  allowed  the  resolution  to 
be  entered  as  unanimous.* 

*  Gilpin,  248-252,  299  ;  Elliot,  21,  22,  38 ;  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  i.,  253. 


1783.  A  CALL  ON  THE  ARMY  TO    INTERPOSE.  61 

In  an  interview  with  tlie  grand  committee  on  tlie  evening 
of  tlie  thirteenth,*  the  deputies  from  the  army  explained  that, 
without  an  immediate  payment  of  some  part  of  the  overdue 
pay,  the  discontent  alike  of  officers  and  soldiers  could  not  be 
soothed ;  that  a  mutiny  might  ensue ;  and  that  it  would  be 
hard  to  punish  soldiers  for  a  breach  of  engagements  to  the 
public  which  the  public  itself  had  already  flagrantly  broken. 
"  The  army,"  said  Macdougall,  "  is  verging  to  that  state  which, 
we  are  told,  will  make  a  wise  man  mad."  It  was  a  source  of 
irritation  that  the  members  of  the  legislatures  never  adjourned 
till  they  had  paid  themselves  fully,  that  aU  on  the  civil  Hsts 
of  the  United  States  regularly  received  their  salaries,  and  that 
all  on  the  military  lists  were  as  regularly  left  unpaid,  f 

The  deputies  animadverted  with  surprise  and  even  indig- 
nation on  the  repugnance  of  some  of  the  states  to  establish  a 
federal  revenue  for  discharging  federal  engagements,  while  the 
affluence  of  the  people  indicated  adequate  resources.  Speak- 
ing with  pecuhar  emphasis  and  making  a  strong  impression  by 
his  manner.  General  Macdougall  declared  "  that  the  most  in- 
telligent part  of  the  army  were  deeply  touched  by  the  debility 
of  the  federal  government  and  the  unwillingness  of  the  states 
to  invigorate  it ;  in  case  of  its  dissolution,  the  benefits  expected 
from  the  revolution  would  be  greatly  impaired ;  and  the  con- 
tests which  might  ensue  among  the  states  would  be  sure  to 
embroil  their  respective  officers." 

Hamilton  had  for  himself  renounced  the  half-pay.  The 
grand  committee,  in  their  report  which  he  drafted,  advised, 
some  payment  to  the  army  as  soon  as  possible ;  for  the  rest, 
they  were  to  have  no  priority  over  other  creditors ;  all  were  to 
wait  alike  for  the  funding  of  the  whole  debt  of  the  United 
States  by  general  revenues.  The  officers  were  to  have  the  op- 
tion of  preserving  their  claim  to  half -pay  as  it  then  stood,  or 
accepting  a  commutation.  J 

"  A  great  majority  of  the  members  of  congress,"  avowed 
Robert  Morris,  "  will  not  adopt  the  necessary  measures  be- 
cause they  are  afraid  of  offending  their  states ; "  and  he  un- 

*  Gilpin,  256,  261 ;  Elliot,  23. 

f  Gilpin,  256-258 ;  Elliot,  23,  24  ;  Washington  to  J.  Jones,  Sparks,  viii.,  370. 

X  HamiltoD,  i.,  274 ;  Gilpin,  276,  277  ;  Elliot,  29,  30, 


62  THE   CONFEDERATION".  b.  i.  ;  oh.  v. 

dertook  to  drive  them  to  decisive  action.  Accordingly,  on  the 
twenty-fourth,  the  day  on  which  the  report  was  taken  np,  he 
sent  to  them  his  resignation  of  office  in  these  words :  "  The 
funding  the  public  debts  on  solid  revenues,  I  fear,  will  never 
be  made.  If  before  the  end  of  May  effectual  measures  to 
make  permanent  provision  for  the  public  debts  of  every  kind 
are  not  taken,  congress  will  be  pleased  to  appoint  some  other 
man  to  be  the  superintendent  of  their  finances :  I  will  never  be 
the  minister  of  injustice."  The  design  of  Robert  Morris  re- 
quired the  immediate  publication  of  his  letter,  that,  by  uniting 
the  army  with  all  other  creditors,  congress  and  the  states  might 
be  coerced  into  an  efficient  system ;  but  congress  reasoned 
that  this  authoritative  statement  of  the  financial  ruin  of  the 
country  would  encourage  the  enemy,  annihilate  foreign  and 
domestic  credit,  and  provoke  the  army  to  mutiny.  They 
therefore  placed  the  communication  under  the  injunction  of 
secrecy.'^ 

Resuming  the  consideration  of  the  report  of  their  grand 
committee  on  the  memorial  from  the  army,  they  referred  a 
present  payment  to  the  discretion  of  the  superintendent  of 
finance;  and,  on  the  fifth  of  February,  he  issued  a  warrant, 
out  of  which  the  officers  received  one  month's  pay  in  notes 
and  the  private  soldiers  one  month's  pay  in  weekly  instalments 
of  half  a  dollar,  f 

The  annual  amount  of  the  half-pay  promised  to  the  officers 
for  life  was  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  valid- 
ity of  the  engagement  was  questioned.  The  grant  was  dis- 
liked by  the  common  soldiers ;  it  found  no  favor  in  the  legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts;  the  delegates  of  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  were  instructed  to  oppose  it  altogether.  To 
avoid  defeat,  this  article  was  laid  over  till  there  should  be  a 
fuller  representation.  J  Delegates  from  the  states  in  which 
the  domestic  debt  was  chiefly  held  hoped  for  efficient  co- 
operation from  the  army.  Pennsylvania  was  the  largest  credit- 
or ;  Massachusetts  ranked  next ;  South  CaroHna,  Georgia,  and 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  xii.,  325-328.     Gilpin,  274,  275  ;  Elliot,  29. 

f  Report  of  the  deputies  in  Sparks,  viii.,  552.  The  amount  of  this  one  month's 
pay  was  253,232.86  dollars.  Old  account-books  in  Treasury  department.  Waste- 
book  D,  Ledger  B.     MS.  i  Gilpin,  281,  321  ;  Elliot,  31,  45. 


1783.  A  CALL  OIT  THE  ARMY  TO  INTERPOSE.  63 

Delaware  were  the  lowest ;  Yirginia  was  but  the  nintli,  hold- 
ing less  than  l^ew  Hampshire  and  not  half  so  much  as  Khode 
Island.  The  zeal  for  the  equal  support  of  all  classes  of  public 
creditors  culminated  in  those  states  whose  citizens  originally 
owned  nearly  four  times  as  much  as  those  of  all  the  six  south- 
ern states,  and  by  transfers  were  constantly  acquiring  more.* 

Adopting  unanimously  a  resolution  which  Hamilton  had 
prepared,  congress  pledged  itself  to  consider  immediately  the 
most  likely  mode  of  obtaining  revenues  adequate  to  the  fund- 
ing of  the  whole  debt  of  the  United  States.f  Encouraged 
by  this  seeming  heartiness,  Wilson  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
twenty-seventh,  proposed  "  the  establishment  of  general  funds 
to  be  collected  by  congress."  j;.  To  the  dismay  of  the  friends 
of  a  general  revenue,  Theodorick  Bland  of  Yirginia  interposed 
and  officially  presented  the  act  of  his  state  repealing  the  grant 
of  the  impost,  and  a  resolution  of  both  its  houses  declarhig  its 
present  inability  to  pay  more  than  fifty  thousand  pounds  Vir- 
ginia currency  toward  the  demands  of  congress  for  1782.* 

The  debate,  nevertheless,  went  on.  Gorham  of  Massachu- 
setts suggested  polls  and  commerce  as  most  proper  objects  of 
taxation.  Hamilton,  discussing  the  subject  in  a  comprehen- 
sive manner,  spoke  for  permanent  sources  of  revenue  which 
should  extend  uniformly  throughout  the  United  States,  and 
be  collected  by  the  authority  of  congress.  Dyer  strongly  dis- 
hked  the  appointment  of  collectors  by  congress  ;  the  states 
would  never  consent  to  it.  Ramsay  of  South  Carolina  sup- 
ported Gorham  and  Hamilton.  Again  Bland  placed  himself 
in  the  way,  saying :  "  The  states  are  so  averse  to  a  general 
revenue  in  the  hands  of  congress  that,  even  if  it  were  proper, 
it  is  unattainable."  He  therefore  advised  congress  to  pursue 
the  rule  of  the  confederation  and  ground  requisitions  on  an 
actual  valuation  of  houses  and  lands  in  the  several  states. 

At  this  stage  of  the  discussion,  an  efficient  reply  could  be 
made  only  by  one  who  was  of  Yirginia.  To  Randolph,  then 
in  Richmond,  Madison  had  already  written  :  "  Virginia  could 
never  have  cut  off  the  impost  at  a  more  unlucky  crisis  than 

*  Gilpin,  364,  note ;  Elliot,  60.  f  Gilpin,  211,  280  ;  Elliot,  30,  31. 
t  Gilpin,  282,  285  ;  Elliot,  32. 

*  Resolution  of  28  December  1782.  in  Journal  of  the  Delegates,  80,  90. 


64:  THE   CONFEDERATIOK  b.  i.  ;  ch.  v. 

when  she  is  protesting  her  inability  to  comply  with  the  conti- 
nental requisitions.  Congress  cannot  abandon  the  plan  as  long 
as  there  is  a  spark  of  hope.  ISTay,  other  plans  on  a  like  prin- 
ciple must  be  added.  Justice,  gratitude,  our  reputation  abroad 
and  our  tranquillity  at  home,  require  provision  for  a  debt  of 
not  less  than  fifty  millions  of  dollars ;  and  this  provision  will 
not  be  adequately  met  by  separate  acts  of  the  states.  If  there 
are  not  revenue  laws  which  operate  at  the  same  time  through 
all  the  states,  and  are  exempt  from  the  control  of  each,  mutual 
jealousies  will  assuredly  defraud  both  our  foreign  and  domes- 
tic creditors  of  their  just  claims."  * 

Madison,  on  the  twenty-eighth,  presented  a  milder  form 
of  the  resolution  for  a  general  revenue.  Arthur  Lee  lost  no 
time  in  confronting  his  colleague  :  "  The  states  will  never  con- 
sent to  a  uniform  tax,  because  it  will  be  unequal ;  is  repug- 
nant to  the  articles  of  confederation  ;  and,  by  placing  the  purse 
in  the  same  hands  with  the  sword,  subverts  the  fundamental 
principles  of  liberty."  Wilson  explained :  The  articles  of 
confederation  have  expressly  provided  for  amendments  ;  there 
is  more  of  a  centrifugal  than  centripetal  force  in  the  states ; 
the  funding  of  a  common  debt  would  invigorate  the  union. 
Ellsworth  despaired  of  a  continental  revenue  ;  condemned  pe- 
riodical requisitions  from  congress  as  inadequate ;  and  inclined 
to  the  trial  of  permanent  state  funds.  In  reply,  Hamilton 
showed  that  state  funds  would  meet  with  even  greater  obsta- 
cles than  a  general  revenue  ;  but  he  lost  the  sympathy  of  the 
house  by  adding  that  the  influence  of  federal  collectors  would 
assist  in  giving  energy  to  the  federal  government.  Eutledge 
thought  that  the  prejudices  of  the  people  were  opposed  to  a 
general  tax,  and  seemed  disinclined  to  it  himself.  Williamson 
was  of  opinion  that  continental  funds,  though  desirable,  were 
unattainable. 

"  The  idea,"  said  Madison,  "  of  erecting  our  national  inde- 
pendence on  the  ruins  of  public  faith  and  national  honor  must 
be  homd  to  every  mind  which  retains  either  honesty  or  pride. 
Is  a  continental  revenue  indispensably  necessary  for  doing 
complete  justice  to  the  public  creditors  ?     This  is  the  question. 

*  Madison  to  Randolph,  22  January  IVSS,  in  Gilpin,  111.     The  date  is  erro- 
neously given  as  of  1*782. 


1783.  A   CALL   ON   THE   AKMY  TO   INTERPOSE.  65 

"  A  punctual  compliance  by  thirteen  independent  govern- 
ments with  periodical  demands  of  money  from  congress  can 
never  be  reckoned  upon  with  certainty.  The  articles  of  con- 
federation authorize  congress  to  borrow  money.  To  borrow 
money,  permanent  and  certain  provision  is  necessary ;  and,  as 
this  cannot  be  made  in  any  other  way,  a  general  revenue  is 
within  the  spirit  of  the  confederation.  Congress  are  already 
invested  by  the  states  with  constitutional  authority  over  the 
purse  as  well  as  the  sword.  A  general  revenue  would  only 
give  this  authority  a  more  certain  and  equal  efficacy. 

"  The  necessity  and  reasonableness  of  a  general  revenue 
have  been  gaining  ground  among  the  states.  I  am  aware  that 
one  exception  ought  to  be  made.  The  state  of  Yirginia,  as 
appears  by  an  act  yesterday  laid  before  congress,  has  withdrawn 
its  assent  once  given  to  the  scheme.  This  circumstance  can- 
not but  embarrass  a  representative  of  that  state  advocating  it ; 
one,  too,  whose  principles  are  extremely  unfavorable  to  a  dis- 
regard of  the  sense  of  constituents.  But,  though  the  dele- 
gates who  compose  congress  more  immediately  represent  and 
are  amenable  to  the  states  from  which  they  come,  yet  they  owe 
a  fidelity  to  the  collective  interests  of  the  whole.  The  part  I 
take  is  the  more  fully  justified  to  my  own  mind  by  my  thor- 
ough persuasion  that,  with  the  same  knowledge  of  public  affairs 
which  my  station  commands,  the  legislature  of  Yirginia  would 
not  have  repealed  the  law  in  favor  of  the  impost,  and  would 
even  now  rescind  the  repeal.'* 

On  the  following  day  the  proposition  of  Wilson  and  Madi 
son,  wdth  slight  amendments,  passed  the  committee  of  the 
whole  without  opposition.  On  the  tweKth  of  February  it 
was  adopted  in  congress  by  seven  states  in  the  affirmative,  and 
without  the  negative  of  any  state. 

For  methods  of  revenue,  the  choice  of  Madison  was  an 
impost,  a  poll-tax  which  should  rate  blacks  somewhat  lower 
than  whites,  and  a  moderate  land-tax.  To  these  Wilson 
wished  to  add  a  duty  on  salt  and  an  excise  on  wine,  imported 
spirits,  and  coffee.  Hamilton,  who  held  the  attempt  at  a 
land-tax  to  be  futile  and  impossible,  suggested  a  house-  and 
window-tax.  Wolcott  of  Connecticut  thought  requisitions 
should  be  in  proportion  to  the  population  of  each  state ;  but 


VOL.  VI. — 5 


QQ  THE   CONFEDERATIOiSr.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  v. 

was  willing  to  include  in  the  enumeration  those  only  of  the 
blacks  who  were  within  sixteen  and  sixty  years  of  age.* 

Just  at  this  time  Pelatiah  Webster,  a  graduate  of  Yale 
college,  in  a  dissertation  published  at  Philadelphia,  f  proposed 
for  the  legislature  of  the  United  States  a  congress  of  two 
houses  which  should  have  ample  authority  for  making  laws 
"  of  general  necessity  and  utiUty,"  and  enforcing  them  as  well 
on  individuals  as  on  states.  He  further  suggested  not  only 
heads  of  executive  departments,  but  judges  of  law  and  chan- 
cery. The  tract  was  reprinted  in  Hartford,  and  called  forth  a 
reply. 

Plans  of  closer  union  offered  only  a  remote  solution  of  the 
difficulties  under  which  the  confederation  was  sinking.  How 
the  united  demand  of  all  public  creditors  could  wrest  imme- 
diately from  congress  and  the  states  the  grant  of  a  general 
revenue  and  power  for  its  collection  employed  the  thoughts  of 
Sobert  Morris  and  his  friends.  On  Christmas  eve  1781,  Gou- 
verneur  Morris,  the  assistant  financier,  had  written  to  Greene : 
"  I  have  no  expectation  that  the  government  will  acquire  force ; 
and  no  hope  that  our  union  can  subsist,  except  in  the  form  of 
an  absolute  monarchy,  and  this  does  not  seem  to  consist  with 
the  taste  and  temper  of  the  people."  To  Jay,  in  January 
1783,  :|:  he  wrote :  "  The  army  have  swords  in  their  hands. 
Good  will  arise  from  the  situation  to  which  we  are  hastening ; 
much  of  convulsion  will  probably  ensue,  yet  it  must  terminate 
in  giving  to  government  that  power  without  which  govern- 
ment is  but  a  name." 

Hamilton  held  it  as  certain  that  the  army  had  secretly  de- 
termined not  to  lay  down  their  arms  until  due  provision  and 
a  satisfactory  prospect  should  be  afforded  on  the  subject  of 
their  pay;  that  the  commander-in-chief  was  already  become 
extremely  unpopular  among  all  ranks  from  his  known  dislike 
to  every  unlawful  proceeding;  but,  as  from  his  virtue,  his 
patriotism,  and  firmness,  he  would  sooner  suffer  himself  to  be 
cut  in  pieces  than  yield  to  disloyal  plans,  Hamilton  wished  him 

*  Gilpin,  300,  304-306,  331;  Elliot,  38-40,  48. 

I  A  Dissertation  on  the  Political  Union  and  Constitution  of  the  thirteen  United 
States  of  North  America,  written  16  February  1783.  In  Pelatiah  Webster's  Po- 
litical Essays,  228.  |  Sparks's  G.  Morris,  i.,  240,  249. 


1783.  A  CALL  ON  THE  ARMY   TO   INTERPOSE.  67 

to  be  the  "  conductor  of  the  army  in  their  plans  for  redress," 
to  the  exclusion  of  a  leader  like  Horatio  Gates.* 

With  these  convictions  and  with  exceeding  caution,  he,  on 
the  seventh  of  February,  addressed  himself  directly  to  Wash- 
ington in  a  letter,  of  which  Brooks,  on  his  return  to  the  camp, 
was  the  bearer.  "  We,"  so  he  wrote  of  congress,  "  are  a  body 
not  governed  by  reason  or  foresight,  but  by  circumstances.  It 
appears  to  be  a  prevailing  opinion  in  the  army  that,  if  they 
once  lay  down  their  arms,  they  part  with  the  means  of  obtain- 
ing justice.  Their  claims,  urged  with  moderation  but  with 
firmness,  may  operate  on  those  weak  minds  which  are  influ- 
enced by  their  apprehensions  more  than  by  their  judgments,  so 
as  to  produce  a  concurrence  in  the  measures  which  the  exigen- 
cies of  affairs  demand.  To  restore  public  credit  is  the  object  of 
all  men  of  sense ;  in  this  the  influence  of  the  army,  properly 
directed,  may  co-operate."  And  he  invited  Washington  to 
make  use  of  General  Knox,  f  to  whom  Gouvernem-  Morris 
wrote  on  the  same  day  and  by  the  same  channel. 

To  ensure  the  concerted  action  of  the  southern  army,  Gou- 
verneur  Morris  wrote  privately  to  Greene :  "  The  main  army 
will  not  easily  forego  their  expectations.  Their  murmurs, 
though  not  loud,  are  deep.  If  the  army,  in  common  with  all 
other  public  creditors,  insist  on  the  grant  of  general,  permanent 
funds  for  liquidating  all  the  public  debts,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  such  revenues  will  be  obtained,  and  will  afford  to 
every  order  of  public  creditors  a  solid  security.  With  the  due 
exception  of  miracles,  there  is  no  probabiHty  that  the  states  will 
ever  make  such  grants  unless  the  army  be  united  and  deter- 
mined in  the  pursuit  of  it,  and  unless  they  be  firmly  supported 
by  and  as  finnly  support  the  other  creditors.  That  this  may 
happen  must  be  the  entire  wish  of  every  intelligently  just  man 
and  of  every  real  friend  to  our  glorious  revolution."  :j: 

The  letter  of  Gouverneur  Morris  to  Knox,  which  was  in 
reality  a  communication  through  Knox  to  Washington,  cannot 
be  found.  '  It  evidently  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  army 
might  be  made  to  co-operate  in  bringing  about  a  closer  union 

*  Gilpin,  350,  351 ;  Elliot,  55. 

f  Hamilton  to  Washington,  7  February  17S3.     Hamilton,  i.,  32*7. 

X  G.  Morris  to  Greene,  15  February  1783.     Sparks's  G.  Morris,  i.,  250. 


68  THE   OONFEDERATIOIT.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  v. 

of  tlie  states  and  a  stronger  government.  Tlie  answer  of  Knox 
expresses  the  advice  of  Washington :  "  The  army  are  good 
patriots,  and  would  forward  everything  that  wonld  tend  to 
produce  union  and  a  permanent  general  constitution ;  but  they 
are  yet  to  he  taught  how  their  influence  is  to  effect  this  mat- 
ter. A  *  hoop  to  the  barrel '  is  their  favorite  toast.  America 
will  have  fought  and  bled  to  little  purpose  if  the  powers  of 
government  shall  be  insufficient  to  preserve  the  peace,  and  this 
must  be  the  case  without  general  funds.  As  the  present  con- 
stitution is  so  defective,  why  do  not  you  great  men  call  the 
people  together  and  tell  them  so — ^that  is,  to  have  a  convention 
of  the  states  to  form  a  better  constitution  ?  This  appears  to 
us,  who  have  a  superficial  view  only,  to  be  the  most  efficacious 
remedy."  * 

On  the  thirteenth  of  February  the  speech  of  the  king  of 
Great  Britain,  at  the  opening  of  parliament  in  December,  was 
received.  His  announcement  of  provisional  articles  of  peace 
with  the  United  States  produced  great  joy ;  yet  that  joy  was 
clouded  by  apprehensions  from  the  impossibility  of  meeting 
the  just  claims  of  the  army. 

Congress  was  brought  no  nearer  to  decisive  action.  Ham- 
ilton proposed  that  the  doors  of  congress  should  be  thrown 
wide  open  whenever  the  finances  were  under  discussion,  though 
the  proposal,  had  it  been  accepted,  would  have  filled  the  gal- 
leries with  holders  of  certificates  of  the  public  debt,  f 

On  the  other  side,  John  Rutledge  again  and  again  moved  that 
the  proceeds  of  the  impost  should  be  appropriated  exclusively 
to  the  army,  but  was  supported  only  by  his  own  state.  Euffled 
by  his  indifference  to  the  civil  creditors,  Wilson  had  one  day 
answered  with  warmth:  "Pennsylvania  will  take  her  own 
measures  without  regard  to  those  of  congress,  and  she  ought 
to  do  so.  She  is  willing  to  sink  or  swim  according  to  the 
common  fate ;  but  she  will  not  suffer  herself,  with  a  millstone 
of  six  millions  of  the  continental  debt,  to  go  to  the  bottom 
alone." 

The  weakness  of  the  friends  of  a  general  revenue  appeared 
from  their  consenting  to  leave  to  the  several  states  the  ap- 

*  Knox  to  G.  Morris,  21  February  1783,  in  Sparks's  G.  Morris,  i.,  256. 
t  Gilpin,  336,  341  ;  Elliot,  50,  52. 


1783.  A  CALL  ON  THE  ARMY   TO  INTERPOSE.  69 

pointment  of  tlie  collectors  of  taxes,  and  to  limit  the  grant  of 
the  impost  to  twenty-five  years.* 

Once  more  Mercer  and  Arthur  Lee  renewed  their  war 
npon  Madison,  who  in  reply  made  a  convincing  plea  for  the 
necessity  of  a  permanent  general  revenue.  "  The  purse,"  re- 
peated Arthur  Lee,  "  ought  never  to  be  put  in  the  same  hand 
with  the  sword.  I  will  be  explicit ;  I  would  rather  see  con- 
gress a  rope  of  sand  than  a  rod  of  iron.  Virginia  ought  not 
to  concur  in  granting  to  congress  a  permanent  revenue."  "  If 
the  federal  compact  is  such  as  has  been  represented,"  said  Mer- 
cer, "  I  will  immediately  withdraw  from  congress,  and  do  every- 
thing in  my  power  to  destroy  its  existence."  Chafed  by  these 
expressions,  Gorham  of  Massachusetts  cried  out :  "  The  sooner 
this  is  known  the  better,  that  some  of  the  states  may  form 
other  confederacies  adequate  to  their  safety."  f 

The  assiduous  labors  of  congress  for  two  months  had  failed 
to  devise  the  means  for  restoring  public  credit.  In  February 
some  of  its  members  thought  the  time  had  arrived  when  order 
and  credit  could  come,  if  the  army  would  support  its  demands 
by  its  strength.  Robert  Morris  extorted  from  congress  a  re- 
moval of  the  injunction  of  secrecy  on  his  letter  of  resignation, 
and  forthwith  sent  it  not  only  to  Washington  but  to  the  public 
press,  through  which  it  immediately  reached  the  army. 

*  Gilpin,  314,  347,  348 ;  Elliot,  43,  64.  f  Gilpin,  357,  611 ;  Elliot,  57. 


70  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  vi. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE   AMERICAN   AKMY   AND   ITS    CHIEF. 
Maech  1783. 

The  command er-in-cMef  suppressed  the  wish  to  visit  Mount 
Yernon  during  the  winter,  for  the  arm j  at  ISTewburg  was  more 
unquiet  that  at  any  former  period.*  The  Massachusetts  line 
formed  more  than  half  of  it,  and  so  many  of  the  remainder 
were  from  other  eastern  states  that  he  could  describe  them  all 
as  E'ew  England  men.  f  He  had  made  the  delicate  state  of 
affairs  "  the  object  of  many  contemplative  hours,"  and  he  was 
aware  of  the  prevailing  sentiment  that  the  prospect  of  compen- 
sation for  past  services  would  terminate  with  the  war. :{: 

'Now  that  peace  was  at  hand,  his  first  act  was  by  a  letter  to 
Harrison,  then  governor  of  Yirginia,  to  entreat  his  own  state 
to  enter  upon  a  movement  toward  a  real  union.  ''  From  the 
observations  I  have  made  in  the  course  of  this  war — and  my 
intercourse  with  the  states  in  their  united  as  well  as  separate 
capacities  has  afforded  ample  opportunities  of  judging — 1  am 
decided  in  my  opinion,"  such  were  his  words,  "  that,  if  the 
powers  of  congress  are  not  enlarged  and  made  competent  to 
all  general  purposes,  the  blood  which  has  been  spilt,  the  ex- 
pense that  has  been  incurred,  and  the  distresses  which  have 
been  felt,  will  avail  nothing;  and  that  the  band  which  holds 
us  togetlier,  already  too  weak,  will  soon  be  broken ;  when  anar- 

*  Sparks,  viii.,  355,  369. 

f  Gorham  in  Gilpin,  315.  Elliot,  43.  Washington  to  Joseph  Jones.  Sparks, 
viii.,  383  ;  and  compare  Sparks,  viii.,  456. 

X  Washington  to  Hamilton,  4  March  1'783.     Sparks,  viii.,  389,  390. 


1783.  THE  AMERICAN  AEMY  AND  ITS  CHIEF.  71 

chj  and  confusion  will  prevail.*  I  shall  make  no  apology  for 
the  freedom  of  these  sentiments ;  thej  proceed  from  an  honest 
heart ;  they  will  at  least  prove  the  sincerity  of  my  friendship, 
as  they  are  altogether  undisguised."  The  governor  received 
this  letter  as  a  public  appeal,  and  placed  it  among  the  archives 
of  Yirginia. 

Before  the  oSScers  had  taken  into  consideration  the  cautious 
report  of  their  committee  to  congress.  Colonel  Walter  Stewart, 
an  inspector  of  troops,  coming  back  from  Philadelphia,  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  quarters  of  Gates  as  "  a  kind  of  agent 
from  the  friends  of  the  army  in  congress ; "  f  and  rumors  were 
immediately  circulated  through  the  camp  that  it  was  univer- 
sally expected  the  army  would  not  disband  until  they  had  ob- 
tained justice ;  that  the  public  creditors  looked  up  to  them  for 
aid,  and,  if  necessary,  would  even  join  them  in  the  field ;  that 
some  members  of  congress  wished  the  measure  might  take 
effect,  in  order  to  compel  the  public,  particularly  the  delin- 
quent states,  to  do  justice.  :j: 

A  plan  of  action  was  in  the  utmost  secrecy  devised  by 
Gates  and  those  around  him.  To  touch  with  ability  the  sev- 
eral chords  of  feeling  which  lay  slumbering  in  the  army,  his 
aide-de-camp.  Major  John  Armstrong,  was  selected  to  draft  an 
address.  This  was  copied,  and  Colonel  Barber,  the  assistant 
adjutant-general  of  the  division  of  Gates,  taking  care  not  to  be 
tracked,  put  it  in  circulation  through  the  line  of  every  state,* 
with  a  notice  for  a  meeting  of  the  general  and  field  officers  on 
the  next  day,  to  consider  what  measures  should  be  adopted  to 
obtain  that  redress  of  grievances  which  they  seemed  to  have 
solicited  in  vain.  || 

"  My  friends ! "  so  ran  the  anonymous  appeal,  "  after  seven 
long  years  your  suffering  courage  has  conducted  the  United 
States  of  America  through  a  doubtful  and  a  bloody  war ;  and 

*  Washington  to  Harrison,  4  March  1783,  Maxwell's  Virginia  Historical 
Register,  vi.,  36,  37. 

f  Gates  to  Armstrong,  22  June  1783.  I  follow  a  manuscript  copy  received  from 
J.  K.  Armstrong.     The  letter  has  been  printed  in  United  States  Magazine,  i.,  40. 

X  Washington  to  Joseph  Jones,  12  March  1783.  Sparks,  viii.,  393,  394.  Wash- 
ington to  Eamilton,  12  March  1783.     Hamilton,  i.,  343. 

#  Gates  to  Armstrong,  22  June,  1783.  1|  Journal  of  Congress,  iv.,  208. 


72  THE  CONFEDERATIOX.  e.  i.  ;  ch.  vi. 

peace  returns  to  bless — whom  ?  A  country  willing  to  redress 
your  wrongs,  cherish  your  worth,  and  reward  your  services  ? 
Or  is  it  rather  a  country  that  tramples  upon  your  rights,  dis- 
dains your  cries,  and  insults  your  distresses  ?  Have  you  not 
lately,  in  the  meek  language  of  humble  petitioners,  begged 
from  the  justice  of  congress  what  you  could  no  longer  expect 
from  their  favor  ?  How  have  you  been  answered  ?  Let  the 
letter  which  you  are  called  to  consider  to-morrow  make  reply ! 

"  If  this  be  your  treatment  while  the  swords  you  wear  are 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  America,  what  have  you  to  ex- 
pect when  those  very  swords,  the  instruments  and  companions 
of  your  glory,  shall  be  taken  from  your  sides,  and  no  mark  of 
military  distinction  left  but  your  wants,  infirmities,  and  scars? 
If  you  have  sense  enough  to  discover  and  spirit  to  oppose 
tyranny,  whatever  garb  it  may  assume,  awake  to  your  situation. 
If  the  present  moment  be  lost,  your  threats  hereafter  will  be 
as  empty  as  your  entreaties  now.  Appeal  from  the  justice  to 
the  fears  of  government ;  and  suspect  the  man  " — here  "Wash- 
ington was  pointed  at — "who  would  advise  to  longer  forbear- 
ance." * 

A  copy  of  the  address  reached  Washington  on  Tuesday,  the 
eleventh,  and  the  meeting  was  to  take  j)lace  in  the  evening  of 
that  very  day.  Resolutions  dictated  by  passion  and  tending 
to  anarchy,  if  once  adopted,  could  never  be  effaced,  and  might 
bring  ruin  on  the  army  and  the  nation.  There  was  need  of 
instant  action,  "  to  arrest  the  feet  that  stood  wavering  on  a 
precipice."  f  To  change  ill-considered  menaces  into  a  legal 
presentment  of  grievances,  the  commander,  in  general  orders, 
disapproved  the  anonymous  and  irregular  invitation  to  a  meet- 
ing, and  at  the  same  time  requested  all  the  highest  officers  and 
a  representation  of  the  rest  to  assemble  at  twelve  o'clock  on 
the  next  Saturday  to  hear  the  report  of  the  committee  which 
they  had  sent  to  congress.  "  After  mature  deliberation,  they 
will  devise  what  further  measures  ought  to  be  adopted  to  attain 
the  just  and  important  object  in  view.  The  senior  officer  in 
rank  present  wiU  preside  and  report  the  result  of  their  delib- 
erations to  the  commander-in-chief."     Gates  quailed,  and  the 

*  Journal  of  Congress,  iv.,  208. 

f  Washington  to  Hamilton,  12  March  1783.     Hamilton,  i.,  344. 


1783.  THE   AMERICAN"  ARMY   AND  ITS   CHIEF.  73 

gathering  for  that  evening  was  given  up ;  but  under  his  eye 
Armstrong  prepared  a  second  anonymous  address,  which,  while 
it  professed  to  consider  the  general  orders  of  Washington  "  as 
giving  stability  to  their  resolves,"  recommended  "  suspicion " 
as  their  ''sentinel."  During  the  week,  Washington  employed 
himself,  with  Knox  and  others  whom  he  could  trust,  in  pre- 
paring methods  to  avert  every  fatal  consequence. 

At  noon  on  the  fifteenth  the  officers  assembled,  with  Gates 
in  the  chair.  They  were  sui^prised  to  find  that  the  commander- 
in-chief  was  with  them.  Every  eye  was  fixed  on  him ;  and 
all  were  mute,  awaiting  his  words.* 

After  an  apology  to  his  "  brother  officers "  for  his  pres- 
ence, he  read  his  analysis  of  the  anonymous  addresses.  Their 
author  he  praised  for  his  rhetorical  skill,  but  denied  the  recti- 
tude of  his  heart,  and  denounced  his  scheme  as  fit  to  proceed 
from  no  one  but  a  British  emissary.     He  thus  continued : 

"  As  I  was  among  the  first  who  embarked  in  the  cause  of 
our  common  country  ;  as  I  have  never  left  your  side  one  mo- 
ment, but  when  called  from  you  on  public  duty ;  as  I  have 
been  the  constant  companion  and  witness  of  your  distresses,  it 
can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  I  am  indifferent  to  your  inter- 
ests." He  proceeded  to  demonstrate  that  any  attempt  to  com- 
pel an  instant  compliance  with  their  demands  would  certainly 
remove  to  a  still  greater  distance  the  o-ttainment  of  their  ends. 
They  must  place  their  reliance  on  the  plighted  faith  of  their 
country  and  the  purity  of  the  intentions  of  congress  to  render 
them  ample  justice,  though  its  deliberations,  from  the  difficulty 
of  reconciling  different  interests,  might  be  slow. 

"  For  myself,"  he  said,  "  so  far  as  may  be  done  consistently 
with  the  great  duty  T  owe  my  country  and  those  powers  we 
are  bound  to  respect,  you  may  command  my  services  to  the 
utmost  extent  of  my  abilities. 

"While  I  give  you  these  assurances,  let  me  entreat  you, 
gentlemen,  on  your  part,  not  to  take  any  measures  which,  in 
the  calm  light  of  reason,  will  lessen  the  dignity  and  sully  the 
glory  you  have  hitherto  maintained.  Let  me  conjure  you  in 
the  name  of  our  common  country,  as  you  value  your  own  sacred 
honor,  as  you  respect  the  rights  of  humanity,  and  as  you  regard 

*  Shaw  to  Rev.  John  Eliot,  21  April  1783. 


74  THE   CONFEDEKATION.  b.  i.  ;  on.  vi, 

tlie  military  and  national  character  of  America,  to  express  your 
utmost  horror  and  detestation  of  the  man  who  wickedly  at- 
tempts to  open  the  floodgates  of  civil  discord  and  deluge  our 
rising  empire  in  blood. 

'^Bj  thus  determining  and  thus  acting,  you  will  pursue 
the  plain  and  direct  road  to  the  attainment  of  your  wishes  ; 
you  will  give  one  more  proof  of  unexampled  patriotism  and 
patient  virtue,  rising  superior  to  the  pressure  of  the  most  com- 
plicated suiferings ;  and  you  will  afford  occasion  for  posterity 
to  say  :  '  Had  this  day  been  wanting,  the  world  had  never  seen 
the  last  stage  of  perfection  to  which  human  nature  is  capable 
of  attaining.' " 

On  concluding  his  address,  the  general,  in  further  proof  of 
the  good  disposition  of  congress,  began  to  read  parts  of  a  let- 
ter from  a  member  of  that  body ;  but,  after  getting  through  a 
single  paragraph,  he  paused,  and  asked  leave  of  his  audience  to 
put  on  spectacles,  which  he  had  so  lately  received  *  that  he  had 
never  yet  worn  them  in  public, f  saying  :  "  I  have  grown  gray 
in  your  service,  and  now  find  myself  growing  blind."  These 
unaffected  words  touched  every  heart.  The  letter,  which  was 
from  Joseph  Jones  of  King  George  county  in  Virginia,  set 
forth  the  embarrassments  of  congress  and  their  resolve  that  the 
army  should  at  all  events  be  justly  dealt  with.  Washington 
then  withdrew. 

Officers,  who  a  few  hours  before  had  yielded  themselves  to 
the  anonymous  addresses,  veered  about,  and  would  now  follow 
no  counsellor  but  their  own  commander.  The  assembly  unani- 
mously thanked  him  for  his  communications  and  assured  him 
of  their  affection,  "  with  the  greatest  sincerity  of  which  the 
human  heart  is  capable."  Then,  after  a  reference  to  Knox, 
Brooks,  and  Howard  as  their  committee,  they  resolved  unani- 
mously :  "  At  the  commencement  of  the  present  war,  the  offi- 
cers of  the  American  army  engaged  in  the  service  of  their 
country  from  the  purest  love  and  attachment  to  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  human  nature,  which  motives  still  exist  in  the  high- 

*  From  Rittenhouse.  Waslimgtoii  to  Rittenhouse,  16  February  1783  ;  Memoirs 
of  Puttenhouse,  299,  300. 

f  "  C'etoit  la  premiere  fois  qu'il  les  prenoit  en  publique."  Mazzei,  RechercheB, 
iv.,  122. 


1783.  THE   AMERICAN  ARMY  AND  ITS   CHIEF.  75 

est  degree ;  and  no  circumstances  of  distress  or  danger  shall  in- 
duce a  conduct  that  may  tend  to  sully  the  reputation  and  glory 
which  they  have  acquired  at  the  price  of  their  blood  and  eight 
years'  faithful  services."  Making  no  demands  and  confining 
their  expectations  within  the  most  reasonable  limits,  they  de- 
clared their  unshaken  confidence  in  the  justice  of  congress  and 
their  country,  and  they  asked  nothing  of  their  chief  but  to 
urge  congress  to  a  speedy  decision  upon  their  late  memorial. 

Another  resolution  declared  "that  the  officers  of  the 
American  army  view  with  abhorrence  and  reject  with  disdain 
the  infamous  propositions  contained  in  a  late  anonymous  ad- 
dress to  them."  Gates  meekly  put  the  question,  and  was 
obliged  to  report  that  it  was  carried  unanimously. 

'No  one  ever  ruled  the  hearts  of  his  officers  like  T^ashing- 
ton.  The  army  of  America  had  seen  him  calm  and  command- 
ing in  the  rage  of  battle ;  patient  and  persistent  under  multi- 
plied misfortunes ;  moderate  in  victory ;  but  then  he  had  been 
countenanced  by  his  troops  and  his  friends;  here  he  stood 
alone,  amid  injured  men  of  inflamed  passions,  with  swords 
at  their  sides,  persuaded  that  forbearance  would  be  their  ruin, 
and,  for  a  fearful  moment,  looking  upon  him  as  their  adver- 
sary. As  he  spoke,  every  cloud  was  scattered,  and  the  full 
light  of  love  of  country  broke  forth.  Happy  for  America 
that  she  had  a  patriot  army ;  happy  for  America  and  for  the 
v/orld  that  that  army  had  Washington  for  its  chief  ! 

The  official  narrative  of  these  events  was  received  in  con- 
gress on  the  twenty-second,  and,  before  the  day  came  to  an 
end,  nine  states  concurred  in  a  resolution'^  commuting  the 
half-pay  promised  to  the  officers  into  a  sum  equal  to  five 
years'  full  pay,  to  be  discharged  by  certificates  bearing  inter- 
est at  six  per  cent.  Georgia  and  Rhode  Island  were  not  ade- 
quately represented ;  l^ew  Hampshire  and  J^ew  Jersey  voted 
in  the  negative ;  all  the  other  states  irrevocably  pledged  the 
United  States  to  redeem  their  promise  made  to  the  officers 
in  the  dark  hours  of  their  encampment  at  Yalley  Forge. 

On  the  next  day  a  ship  dispatched  from  Cadiz  by  d'Es- 
taing,  at  the  instance  of  Lafayette,  brought  authentic  news 
that  the  American  and  British  commissioners  had  signed  defini- 

*  Bland  to  Wasliington,  22  March  IVSS.     MS. 


76  THE   CONFEDERATION".  b.i.;ch.vi. 

lively  a  provisional  treaty,  of  wliicli  an  official  copy  had  been 
received  eleven  days  before,  and  that  peace  with  Great  Brit- 
ain had  already  taken  effect.  The  American  boundaries  on 
the  northwest  exceeded  alike  the  demands  and  the  hopes  of 
congress,  and  it  was  already  believed  that  a  later  generation 
would  make  its  way  to  the  Pacific  ocean.* 

The  glad  tidings  drew  from  "Washington  tears  of  joy  in 
that  "happiest  moment  of  his  life."  "All  the  world  is 
touched  by  his  republican  virtues,"  wrote  Luzerne.  "  It  will 
be  in  vain  for  him  to  wish  to  hide  himseK  and  live  as  a  sim- 
ple, private  man ;  he  will  always  be  the  first  citizen  of  the 
United  States."  f  All  the  while  no  one  like  him  had  pursued 
with  single-mindedness  and  perseverance  and  constant  activity 
the  great  object  of  creating  a  republican  government  for  the 
continent.  To  Hamilton  he  wrote  on  the  last  day  of  March 
1783  :  "  I  rejoice  most  exceedingly  that  there  is  an  end  to  our 
warfare,  and  that  such  a  field  is  opening  to  our  view,  as  will 
with  wisdom  to  direct  the  cultivation  of  it,  make  us  a  great,  a 
respectable,  and  happy  people ;  but  it  must  be  improved  by 
other  means  than  state  politics,  and  unreasonable  jealousies  and 
prejudices,  or  it  requires  not  the  second  sight  to  see  that  we 
shall  be  instruments  in  the  hands  of  our  enemies  and  those 
European  powers  who  may  be  jealous  of  our  greatness  in  union, 
to  dissolve  the  confederation.  But  to  obtain  this,  although  the 
way  seems  extremely  plain,  is  not  so  easy. 

"  My  wish  to  see  the  union  of  these  states  established  upon 
liberal  and  permanent  principles,  and  incHnation  to  contribute 
my  mite  in  pointing  out  the  defects  of  the  present  constitu- 
tion, are  equally  great.  All  my  private  letters  have  teemed 
with  these  sentiments,  and,  whenever  this  topic  has  been  the 
subject  of  conversation,  I  have  endeavored  to  diffuse  and  en- 
force them.  "No  man  in  the  United  States  is  or  can  be  more 
deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  a  reform  in  our  present 
confederation  than  myself.  No  man,  perhaps,  has  felt  the  bad 
effects  of  it  more  sensibly;  for  to  the  defects  thereof,  and 
want  of  power  in  congress,  may  justly  be  ascribed  the  pro- 
longation of  the  war  and  consequently  the  expenses  occasioned 

*  Luzerne  to  Vergenncs,  19  March  1*783.     MS. 
f  Luzerne  to  Vergennes,  29  March  1783. 


1783.  THE  AMEEICAN  ARMY  AND  ITS  CHIEF.  77 

by  it.  More  tliaii  half  tlie  perplexities  I  have  experienced  in 
the  course  of  my  command,  and  almost  the  whole  of  the  dif- 
ficulties and  distress  of  the  army,  have  had  their  origin  here. 
But  still,  the  prejudices  of  some,  the  designs  of  others,  and 
the  mere  machinery  of  the  majority,  make  address  and  man- 
agement necessary  to  give  weight  to  opinions  which  are  to 
combat  the  doctrines  of  those  diiferent  classes  of  men  in  the 
field  of  politics."  * 

Upon  official  information  from  Franklin  and  Adams,  con- 
gress on  the  eleventh  of  April  made  proclamation  for  the  ces- 
sation of  hostilities.  In  announcing  the  great  event  to  the 
army,  Washington  did  especial  honor  to  the  men  who  had 
enlisted  for  the  w^r,  and  added :  "  Happy,  thrice  happy  shall 
they  be  pronounced  hereafter  who  have  contributed  anything 
in  erecting  this  stupendous  fabric  of  freedom  and  empire; 
who  have  assisted  in  protecting  the  rights  of  human  nature, 
and  establishing  an  asylum  for  the  poor  and  oppressed  of  all 
nations  and  religions."  f  The  proclamation  of  congress  that 
war  was  at  an  end  was  pubHshed  to  the  army  on  the  nine- 
teenth, exactly  eight  years  from  the  day  when  the  embattled 
farmers  of  Concord  "  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

*Sparks'3  Washington,  viii.,  409,  410,  411.    Washington  to  Hamilton,  31 
March  1783.  f  Sparks,  viii.,  5G8. 


78  THE   CONFEDERATION.  b.  i.  ;  oh.  vii. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

DISBANDmG   THE   AEMY. 

Maech-July  1Y83. 

Washington  presented  the  rightful  claims  of  the  "  patriot 
army"*  with  a  warmth  and  energy  which  never  but  this 
once  appear  in  his  commimications  to  congress  ;  and  his  words 
gained  intenser  power  from  his  disinterestedness.  To  a  com- 
mittee on  which  were  Bland  and  Hamilton,  he  enforced,  by 
every  consideration  of  gratitude,  justice,  honor,  and  national 
pride,  the  "  universal "  expectations  of  the  army,  that,  before 
their  disbanding,  they  should  receive  pay  for  at  least  one 
month  in  hand,  with  an  absolute  assurance  in  a  short  time  of 
pay  for  two  months  more.  "  The  financier  will  take  his  own 
measures,  but  this  sum  must  be  procured.  The  soldier  is  will- 
ing to  risk  the  hard-earned  remainder  due  him  for  four,  five, 
perhaps  six  years  upon  the  same  basis  of  security  with  the 
general  mass  of  other  public  creditors."  f 

"  The  expectations  of  the  army,"  answered  Hamilton,  "  are 
moderation  itself."  :j:  But,  after  a  week's  reflection,  Morris, 
who  had  already  written  to  congress  "  our  public  credit  is 
gone,"  *  replied  to  the  committee  that  the  amount  of  three 
months'  pay  was  more  than  all  the  receipts  from  all  the  states 
since  1781 ;  that  there  was  no  resource  but  the  issue  of  paper 
notes  in  anticipation  of  revenue.  || 

*  Washington  to  congress,  18  March  1783.     Sparks,  viii.,  396-399. 
f  Washington  to  Bland,  4  April  1783. 

X  Hamilton  to  Washington,  11  April  1VS3.     Letters  to  Washington,  iv.,  17. 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  xii.,  342. 

I  R.  Morris  to  Hamilton,  14  April  1783.  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  xii., 
346. 


1783.  DISBANDING  THE  AKMY.  79 

A  sharp  admonition  from  Yergennes  to  tlie  United  States 
speedily  to  meet  their  engagements  in  France  and  Holland,* 
and  the  representations  of  Washington,  quickened  the  deter- 
mination of  congress.  In  preparing  the  plan  for  a  revenue, 
Madison  was  assisted  by  Jefferson,  who  passed  a  large  part  of 
the  winter  in  Philadelphia. 

The  national  debt  of  Great  Britain  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war  with  America  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-six 
millions  of  pounds ;  at  the  close  of  it,  inclading  deficiencies 
that  were  still  to  be  funded,  it  amounted  to  twice  that  sum. 
The  debt  of  the  United  States  did  not  much  exceed  forty-two 
millions  of  dollars ;  the  annual  interest  on  that  debt  was  not 
far  from  two  and  a  half  millions,  and  to  fund  it  successfully 
there  was  need  of  a  yearly  revenue  of  at  least  that  sum.  One 
million  was  hoped  for  from  specific  duties  on  enumerated  im- 
ports, and  a  duty  of  five  per  cent  on  the  value  of  all  others. 
A  million  and  a  half  dollars  more  were  to  be  raised  by  requisi- 
tions of  congress,  apportioned  on  the  states  according  to  popu- 
lation. This  more  convenient  method  had  hitherto  failed  from 
conflicts  on  the  rule  for  counting  slaves.  The  South  had  in- 
sisted on  the  ratio  of  two  for  one  freeman.  "Williamson  of 
North  Carolina  said:  "I  am  principled  against  slavery.  I 
think  slaves  an  incumbrance  to  society  instead  of  increasing 
its  ability  to  pay  taxes."  f  To  effect  an  agreement,  Madison, 
seconded  by  John  Rutledge,  offered  that  slaves  should  be  rated 
as  five  to  three,  and  this  compromise,  which  then  affected 
taxation  only  and  not  representation,  was  accepted  almost  with 
unanimity. ;[: 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  Hamilton  had  declared  in  con- 
gress that  he  wished  to  strengthen  the  federal  constitution 
through  a  general  convention,  and  should  soon,  in  pursuance 
of  instructions  from  his  constituents,  propose  a  plan  for  that 
purpose.  *  In  the  mean  time,  he  remained  inflexible  in  the 
opinion  that  an  attempt  to  obtain  revenue  by  an  application^ 
to  the  several  states  would  be  futile,  because  an  agreement 
could  never  be  arrived  at  through  partial  deliberations.     The 

*  Luzerne  to  R.  Morris,  15  March  ITSS.    Diplomatic  Correspondence,  xi.,  157, 
158.  f  Gilpin,  423  ;  Elliot,  79. 

X  Gilpin,  423,  424  ;  Elliot,  79.  *  Gilpin,  429,  430;  Elliot,  81. 


80  THE  COXFEDERATIOK  b.  i.  ;  ch.  vn. 

vote  on  the  report  of  tlie  new  financial  measure,  which  he  op- 
posed as  inadequate,  was  taken  on  the  eighteenth  of  April. 
Georgia  alone  was  absent ;  eleven  states  were  fully  represented ; 
New  Hampshire  by  a  single  delegate.  Hamilton  and  the  two 
representatives  of  Ehode  Island,  alone  and  for  the  most  oppo- 
site reasons,  gave  their  votes  in  the  negative.  !New  York  being 
divided,  nine  states  and  a  half  against  one,  twenty-five  delegates 
against  three,  recorded  their  votes  for  the  adoption  of  tlie  report. 

To  the  relentless  exigencies  of  the  moment  the  financial 
proposition  of  the  eighteenth  of  April  offered  no  relief,  nor 
could  it  take  effect  until  it  should  be  accepted  by  every  one  of 
the  thirteen  states.  To  win  this  unanimous  assent,  congress, 
in  the  words  of  Madison,  enforced  the  peculiar  nature  of  their 
obligations  to  France,  to  members  of  the  republic  of  Holland, 
and  to  the  army.  Moreover,  "  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
are  responsible  for  the  greatest  trust  ever  confided  to  a  politi- 
cal society.  If  justice,  good  faith,  honor,  gratitude,  and  all  the 
other  qualities  which  ennoble  the  character  of  a  nation  and 
fulfil  the  ends  of  government,  be  the  fruits  of  our  unadulter- 
ated forms  of  republican  government,  the  cause  of  liberty  will 
acquire  a  dignity  and  lustre  which  it  has  never  yet  enjoyed ; 
and  an  example  will  be  set  which  cannot  but  have  the  most 
favorable  influence  on  the  rights  of  mankind."  !Mew  York, 
North  and  South  Carolina,  and  Massachusetts  were  following 
the  example  of  Virginia,  and  repealing  their  revenue  acts  of 
former  years ;  when  the  address  went  forth,  accompanied  by 
the  letter  of  congress  to  the  governor  of  Rhode  Island  which 
Hamilton  had  drafted,  and  by  various  papers  showing  the 
amount  and  the  character  of  the  debt  of  the  United  States. 

Then,  on  the  twenty-eighth,  and  so  far  as  the  records  show 
never  tiU  then,  congress  appointed  a  committee  on  the  New 
York  resolutions  of  the  preceding  July  in  favor  of  a  general 
convention.  Its  choice  fell  on  Ellsworth,  Carroll,  Wilson, 
Gorham,  Hamilton,  Peters,  McHenry,  Izard,  and  Duane."^ 

*  Madison,  on  whom  we  depend  for  a  report  of  the  delDates  of  congress  of  that 
period,  was  absent  from  Saturday,  April  the  twenty-sixth,  to  Tuesday,  May  sixth. 
So  details  are  wanting.  That  Clinton's  letter  and  the  New  York  resolutions  were 
committed  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  we  know  from  a  MS.  memorandum  by 
Charles  Thomson. 


1783.  DISBANDING  THE   ARMY.  81 

In  October  1780,  congress  provided  for  forming  new  states 
out  of  the  nortli-western  territory.*  A  most  elaborate  report, 
read  in  November  1781,  recommended  that  the  lands  for  set- 
tlements "  should  be  laid  out  into  townships  of  about  six  miles 
square."  f  Early  in  1783  Kufus  Putnam,  with  other  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  army  in  'New  England,  engaged  heartily  in 
a  plan  to  form  a  state  westward  of  the  Ohio,  and  Timothy 
Pickering,  who  had  framed  a  complete  plan  for  settling  lands 
in  Ohio,  proposed  to  them  that  "  the  total  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  the  state  should  form  an  essential  and  irrevocable  part  of 
the  constitution."  J  To  "  unite  the  thirteen  states  in  one  great 
political  interest,"  Bland,  a  man  of  culture,  who  had  served 
with  credit  as  a  colonel  of  dragoons,  and  had  been  a  member 
of  congress  from  Virginia  since  1780,  now,  on  the  fifth  of  June 
1783,  brought  forward  an  "  ordinance  "  to  accept  conditionally 
the  cession  of  Virginia,  divide  it  into  districts  of  two  degrees 
of  latitude  by  three  degrees  of  longitude,  and  subdivide  each 
district  into  townships  of  a  fixed  number  of  miles  square ;  each 
district  to  be  received  into  the  union  as  a  "  sovereign  "  state, 
so  soon  as  it  could  count  twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  In 
these  embryo  states,  every  one  who  had  enlisted  for  the  war  or 
had  served  for  three  years  was  to  receive  the  bounty  lands 
promised  him,  and  thirty  acres  more  for  each  dollar  due  to 
him  from  the  United  States.  One  tenth  part  of  the  soil  was 
to  be  reserved  for  "  the  payment  of  the  civil  list  of  the  United 
States,  the  erecting  of  frontier  posts,  and  the  founding  of 
seminaries  of  learning ;  the  surplus  to  be  appropriated  to  the 
building  and  equipping  a  navy,  and  to  no  other  purpose  what- 
ever." This  pioneer  ordinance  for  colonizing  the  territory 
north-west  of  the  Ohio  was  seconded  by  Hamilton,  and  referred 
to  a  grand  committee.* 

From  the  moment  when  it  became  ofiicially  known  that  a 

*  Laws  relating  to  Public  Lands,  338 ;  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  535. 

f  Endorsement  on  the  original  report  in  the  state  department  is :  "  Read  in 
congress  3  November  17S1." 

X  Pickering's  Pickering,  i.,  546. 

^  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  xxxvi.  MS.  The  ordinance  is  in  the  handwriting 
of  Theodorick  Bland,  and  indorsed  by  Charles  Thomson  :  "  Motion  of  Mr.  Bland 
seconded  by  Mr.  Hamilton.  June  5,  1783.  Referred  to  the  grand  committee  of 
30  May  1'783." 

VOL.    VI. — 6 


82  TEE  CONFEDERATION.  b.i.;oh.vii. 

preliminary  treaty  of  peace  had  been  concluded,  Robert  Morris 
persistently  demanded  the  immediate  discharge  of  the  army.* 
The  city  of  New  York  and  the  interior  posts  being  still  in 
British  hands,  his  importunity  was  resisted  by  Gorham  and 
Hamilton,  and  disapproved  by  the  secretary  of  foreign  affairs ; 
but  the  public  penury  overcame  all  scruples. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  officers  to  pass  from  military 
service  to  civil  life,  they  recalled  the  example  of  the  Roman 
Cincinnatus,  and,  adopting  his  name,  formed  themselves  into 
"  one  society  of  friends,"  to  perpetuate  "  the  spint  of  brotherly 
kindness  "  and  to  help  officers  and  their  families  in  their  times 
of  need.  An  immutable  attachment  to  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  human  nature  was  made  the  law  of  conduct  for  members, 
to  whatever  nation  they  might  belong ;  and  those  who  were 
Americans  pledged  to  each  other  their  "  unalterable  determi- 
nation to  promote  and  cherish  union  between  the  states."  f  By 
one  grave  error,  which  called  forth  from  many  sides  in  Ameri- 
ca and  in  Europe  the  severest  censure,  membership  was  made 
hereditary  in  their  eldest  male  posterity.  The  commander-in- 
chief,  who  had  no  offspring,  refused  to  separate  himseK  from 
his  faithful  associates  in  the  war ;  but  by  his  influence  the  soci- 
ety at  its  first  general  meeting  in  May  1784  proposed  to  its 
branches  in  the  states  to  expunge  from  its  constitution  the 
clauses  which  had  excited  alarm  and  just  complaint. 

The  general  order  of  the  second  day  of  June  published  the 
resolve  of  congress  that  the  men  engaged  for  the  war,  with  a 
proper  proportion  of  officers,  were  immediately  to  receive  fur- 
loughs, on  the  reverse  of  which  was  their  discharge,  to  take 
effect  on  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace.  Washington  felt  the 
keenest  sensibility  at  their  distresses ;  :j:  but  he  had  exhausted 
all  his  influence.  The  army,  for  three  months'  pay,  received 
only  notes  exactly  "  like  other  notes  issued  from  the  office  of 
finance."  *  These  were  nominally  due  in  six  months  to  the 
bearer,  with  six  per  cent  interest  till  paid.     Their  value  in  the 

*  Diary  of  Morris  in  Dip.  Cor.,  xii.,  36Y,  note.  f  Sparks,  ix.,  23,  note. 
:j:  Washington  to  Heath,  6  June  1783.     Sparks,  viii.,  435. 

*  Washington  to  Bland,  4  April  1Y83 ;  Journals  of  Congress,  for  July  9  and 
following  days,  iv.,  237,  238  ;  Morris  to  congress,  18  July  1783,  Dip.  Cor.,  xii.,  376, 
880-386  and  387-389,  and  other  letters. 


1783.  DISBANDING  THE   ARMY.  83 

market  was  two  shillings  or  two  and  sixpence  for  tv/enty  shil- 
lings.* The  veterans  were  enthusiasts  for  liberty,  and  there- 
fore, with  the  consciousness  of  having  done  their  duty  to  their 
native  land  and  to  mankind,  they,  in  perfect  good  order,  bear- 
ing with  them  their  arms  as  memorials  of  their  service,  retired 
to  their  homes  "mthout  a  settlement  of  their  accounts,  and 
without  a  farthing  of  money  in  their  pockets."  f 

The  events  of  the  last  four  months  called  into  full  action 
the  powers  and  emotions  of  Washington.  "State  politics," 
said  he,  "  interfere  too  much  with  the  more  liberal  and  exten- 
sive plan  of  government  which  wisdom  and  foresight  would 
dictate.  The  honor,  power,  and  true  interest  of  this  country 
must  be  measured  by  a  continental  scale.  To  form  a  new  con- 
stitution that  will  give  consistency,  stability,  and  dignity  to  the 
union  and  sufficient  powers  to  the  great  council  of  the  nation 
for  general  purposes,  is  a  duty  incumbent  upon  every  man  who 
wishes  well  to  his  country."  :j: 

Lifted  above  himself,  and  borne  on  by  the  energy  of  his 
belief,  he  in  Jime  addressed  the  whole  people  through  a  last 
circular  to  the  governor  of  every  state,*  for  he  was  persuaded 
that  immediate  and  extreme  danger  overhung  the  life  of  the 
union.  "  With  this  conviction  of  the  importance  of  the  pres- 
ent crisis,"  such  are  his  words,  "  silence  in  me  would  be  a  crime ; 
I  will  therefore  speak  without  disguise  the  language  of  free- 
dom and  of  sincerity.  Those  who  differ  from  me  in  poHtical 
sentiment  may  remark  that  I  am  stepping  out  of  the  proper 
line  of  my  duty  ;  but  the  rectitude  of  my  own  heart,  the  part 
I  have  hitherto  acted,  experience  acquired  by  long  and  close 
attention  to  the  business  of  that  country  in  whose  service  I  have 
spent  the  prime  of  my  life  and  whose  happiness  will  always 
constitute  my  own,  the  ardent  desire  I  feel  of  enjoying  in  pri- 
vate life,  after  all  the  toils  of  war,  the  benefits  of  a  wise  and 
liberal  government,  will  sooner  or  later  convince  my  country- 
men that  this  address  is  the  result  of  the  purest  intention." 

*  Felatiali  V/cbster's  Political  E^-says,  310  ;  compare  272. 

f  Washington  to  Congress,  7  and  24  June  1783.     Sparks,  viii.,  438,  456. 
I  Washington  to  Lafayette,  5  April  1783.     Sparks,  viii.,  412. 

*  Sparks,  viii.,  439.     The  date  of  the  circular  varies  with  the  time  of  its  suc- 
cessive emission  to  the  several  states. 


84  THE   CONFEDERATION-.  b.  i.  ;  en.  vii. 

Thoughtful  for  the  defence  of  the  republic,  the  retiring 
commander-in-chief  recommended  "  a  proper  peace  establish- 
ment," and  an  absolutely  imif orm  organization  of  the  "  militia 
of  the  union"  throughout  "the  continent."  He  pleaded  for 
complete  justice  to  all  classes  of  public  creditors.  He  entreated 
the  legislature  of  each  state  to  pension  its  disabled  non-com- 
missioned officers  and  privates.  He  enforced  the  duty  of  the 
states,  without "  hesitating  a  single  moment,"  to  give  their  sanc- 
tion to  the  act  of  congress  establishing  a  revenue  for  the  United 
States,  for  the  only  alternative  was  a  national  bankruptcy. 
"  Honesty,"  he  said,  "  will  be  found  on  every  experiment  to 
be  the  best  and  only  true  policy.  In  what  part  of  the  con- 
tinent shall  we  find  any  man  or  body  of  men  who  would  not 
blush  to  propose  measures  purposely  calculated  to  rob  the 
soldier  of  his  stipend,  and  the  public  creditor  of  his  due  ? " 

He  then  proceeded  to  pronounce  solemn  judgment,  and  to 
summon  the  people  of  America  to  fulfil  their  duty  to  Provi- 
dence and  to  their  fellow-men.  "  If  a  spirit  of  disunion,  or 
obstinacy  and  perverseness,  should  in  any  of  the  states  attempt 
to  frustrate  all  the  haj^py  effects  that  might  be  expected  to  flow 
from  the  union,  that  state  which  puts  itself  in  opposition  to  the 
aggregate  wisdom  of  the  continent  will  alone  be  responsible 
for  all  the  consequences.* 

"  The  citizens  of  America,  the  sole  lords  and  proprietors 
of  a  vast  tract  of  continent,  are  now  acknowledged  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  absolute  freedom  and  independency.  Here  Heaven 
has  crowned  all  its  other  blessings  by  giving  a  fairer  opportu- 
nity for  political  happiness  than  any  other  nation  has  ever  been 
favored  with.  The  rights  of  mankind  are  better  understood 
and  more  clearly  defined  than  at  any  former  period.  The  col- 
lected wisdom  acquired  through  a  long  succession  of  years  is 
laid  open  for  our  use  in  the  establishment  of  our  forms  of 
government.  The  free  cultivation  of  letters,  the  unbounded 
extension  of  commerce,  the  progressive  refinement  of  man- 
ners, the  growing  liberality  of  sentiment,  and,  above  all,  the 
pure  and  benign  light  of  revelation,  have  had  a  meliorating 
influence  on  mankind.  At  this  auspicious  period,  the  United 
States  came  into  existence  as  a  nation. 

*  Sparks,  viii.,  446,  447. 


1783.  DISBANDING  THE   ARMY.  85 

"  Plappiness  is  ours  if  we  seize  the  occasion  and  make  it 
our  own.  This  is  the  moment  to  give  such  a  tone  to  our  fed- 
eral government  as  will  enable  it  to  answer  the  ends  of  its  in- 
stitution. According  to  the  system  of  policy  the  states  shall 
adopt  at  this  moment,  it  is  to  be  decided  whether  the  revolu- 
tion must  ultimately  be  considered  as  a  blessing  or  a  curse ;  a 
blessing  or  a  curse,  not  to  the  present  age  alone,  for  with  our 
fate  will  the  destiny  of  unborn  millions  be  involved. 

"Essential  to  the  existence  of  the  United  States  is  the 
friendly  disposition  which  will  forget  local  prejudices  and 
policies,  make  mutual  concessions  to  the  general  prosperity, 
and,  in  some  instances,  sacrifice  individual  advantages  to  the 
interest  of  the  community.  Liberty  is  the  basis  of  the  glorious 
fabric  of  our  independency  and  national  character,  and  who- 
ever would  dare  to  sap  the  foundation,  or  overturn  the  struct- 
ure, under  whatever  specious  pretext  he  may  attempt  it,  will 
merit  the  bitterest  execration  and  the  severest  punishment 
which  can  be  inflicted  by  his  injured  coimtry. 

"It  is  indispensable  to  the  happiness  of  the  individual 
states  that  there  should  be  lodged  somewhere  a  supreme  power 
to  regulate  and  govern  the  general  concerns  of  the  confeder- 
ated republic,  without  which  the  union  cannot  be  of  long  du- 
ration,* and  everything  must  very  rapidly  tend  to  anarchy  and 
confusion.  Whatever  measures  have  a  tendency  to  dissolve  the 
union,  or  to  violate  or  lessen  the  sovereign  authority,  ought  to 
be  considered  as  hostile  to  the  liberty  and  independence  of 
America.  It  is  only  in  our  united  character  that  we  are 
known  as  an  empire,  that  our  independence  is  acknowledged, 
that  our  power  can  be  regarded,  or  our  credit  supported  among 
foreign  nations.  The  treaties  of  the  European  powers  with 
the  United  States  of  America  will  have  no  validity  on  a  dis- 
solution of  the  union.  We  shall  be  left  nearly  in  a  state  of 
nature  ;  or  we  may  find  by  our  own  unhappy  experience  that 
there  is  a  natural  and  necessary  progression  from  the  extreme 
of  anarchy  to  the  extreme  of  tyranny,  and  that  arbitrary 
power  is  most  easily  established  on  the  ruins  of  liberty  abused 
to  licentiousness." 

This  circular  letter  of  Washington  the  governors  of  the 

*  Sparks,  viii,,  444. 


86  THE   CONFEDERATIO>T.  b.  i.  ;  en.  vii. 

states,  according  to  liis  request,  communicated  to  their  respect- 
ive legislatures.  In  this  way  it  was  borne  to  every  home  in 
the  United  States,  and  he  entreated  the  people  to  receive  it  as 
"  his  legacy  "  on  his  retirement  to  private  life. 

He  avoided  the  appearance  of  dictating  to  congress  how 
the  constitution  should  be  formed ;  but,  while  he  was  careful 
to  declare  himself  "  no  advocate  for  their  having  to  do  with 
the  particular  policy  of  any  state  further  than  it  concerns  the 
union  at  large,"  he  had  no  reserve  in  avowing  his  "  wish  to  see 
energy  given  to  the  federal  constitution  by  a  convention  of  the 
people."  ''^ 

The  newspapers  of  the  day,  as  they  carried  the  letter  of 
Washington  into  every  home,  caught  up  the  theme,  and  de- 
manded a  revision  of  the  constitution,  ^^  not  by  congress,  but 
by  a  continental  convention,  authorized  for  the  purpose."  f 

*  Washington  to  Dr.  William  Gordon,  8  July  1783. 

f  Among  them:  Philadelphia,  3  July  1783;  Maryland  Gazette,  11  July;  Vir- 
ginia Gazette,  19  July. 


THE 


FOMATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

OF   THE 

UI^riTED    STATES    OF    AMEEIOA 

IK  FIVE  BOOKS. 

BOOK  SECOm 
OlSr  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION". 

1783-1787. 


CHAPTER  L 

-    how  the  land  received  the  legacy  of  washington. 
June-December  1783. 

All  movements  conspired  to  form  for  tlie  thirteen  states  a 
constitution,  sooner  than  they  dared  to  hope  and  "  better  than 
they  knew."  '^  The  love  of  union  and  the  resistance  to  the 
claims  of  Great  Britain  were  the  inseparable  inmates  of  the 
same  bosom.  Brave  men  from  different  states,  risking  life 
and  everything  valuable  in  a  common  cause,  believed  by  all  to 
be  most  precious,  were  confirmed  in  the  habit  of  considering 
America  as  their  country  and  congress  as  their  government."  ^' 
Acting  as  one,  they  had  attained  independence.  Moreover,  it 
was  their  fixed  belief  that  they  had  waged  battle  not  for  them- 
selves alone,  but  for  the  hopes  and  the  rights  of  manlcind ;  and 
this  faith  overleapt  the  limits  of  separate  commonwealths  with 
the  force  of  a  religious  conviction.  For  eighteen  years  the 
states  had  watched  together  over  their  liberties ;  for  eight  they 
had  borne  arms  together  to  preserve  them ;  for  more  than  two 
they  had  been  confederates  under  a  compact  to  remain  united 
forever. 

The  federation  excelled  every  one  that  had  preceded  it. 
Inter-citizenship  and  mutual  equahty  of  rights  between  all  its 
members  gave  to  it  a  new  character  and  an  enduring  unity. 
The  Hebrew  commonwealth  was  intensely  exclusive,  both  by 
descent  and  from  religion ;  every  Greek  republic  grew  out  of 
families  and  tribes ;  the  word  nation  originally  implied  a  com- 
mon ancestry.  All  mediaeval  repubHcs,  like  the  Roman  mu- 
nicipalities, rested  on  privilege.     The  principle  of  inter-citi- 

*  Marshall  in  Van  Smtvoord's  Chief  Justices  of  the  United  States,  314,  315. 


90      ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  COXVENTIO:^'.    b.  ii.  ;  oh.  i. 

zenship  infused  itself  neither  into  tlie  constitution  of  the  old 
German  empire,  nor  of  Switzerland,  nor  of  Holland.  Even 
when  the  American  people  took  up  arms  against  Great  Brit- 
ain, congress  dehned  only  the  membership  ^  of  each  colony  ; 
the  articles  of  confederation  first  brought  in  the  rule  that  any 
one  might  at  will  transfer  his  membership  from  one  state  to 
another.  Of  old  a  family,  a  sept,  a  clan,  a  tribe,  a  nation,  a 
race,  ow^ed  its  unity  to  consanguinity.  Inter-citizenship  now 
took  the  place  of  consanguinity ;  the  Americans  became  not 
only  one  people,  but  one  nation.  They  had  framed  a  union  of 
several  states  in  one  confederacy,  fortified  and  bound  in  with 
a  further  union  of  the  inhabitants  of  every  one  of  them  by  a 
mutual  and  reciprocally  perfect  naturalization. f  This  inter- 
citizenship,  though  only  in  its  third  year,  has  been  so  ratified 
by  national  afiections,  by  the  national  acquisition  of  independ- 
ence, by  national  treaties,  by  national  interests,  by  national 
history,  that  the  people  possessing  it  cannot  but  take  one  step 
more,  and  from  an  indwelling  necessity  form  above  the  states  a 
common  constitution  for  the  w^hole. 

It  was  to  a  nation  which  had  not  as  yet  a  self -existent  gov- 
ernment, and  which  needed  and  felt  the  need  of  one,  that 
Washington's  legacy  went  forth.  The  love  which  was  every- 
where cherished  for  him,  in  itself  had  become  a  bond  of  union. 
"  They  are  compelled  to  await  the  result  of  his  letter,"  re- 
ported Luzerne ;  if  "  they  hope  more  from  the  weight  of  a  sin- 
gle citizen  than  from  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  body." 
Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  venerable  governor  of  Connecticut,  in 
his  prompt  reply  extolled  "  this  last  address  which  exhibited 
the  foundation  principles  "  of  "  an  indissoluble  union  of  the 
states  under  one  federal  head."  *  When  in  the  next  autumn 
this  faithful  war  governor,  after  more  than  fifty  years  of  ser- 
vice, bade  farewell  to  public  life,  imitating  Washington,  he 
set  forth  to  the  legislature  of  Connecticut,  and  through  them 
to  its  people,  that  the  grant  to  the  federal  constitution  of  pow- 
ers clearly  defined,  ascertained,  and  understood,  and  sufficient 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  i.,  365. 

f  Bacon's  speech  for  general  naturalization,  Spedding's  Bacon's  Letters  and 
Life,  iii.,  319.  if  Luzerne  to  Vergcnnes,  4  August  1783. 

*  Jonathan  Trumbull  to  Washington,  10  June  17S3. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY  OF  WASHINGTOIN'.  91 

for  all  tli8  great  purposes  of  union,  could  alone  lead  from  tlie 
danger  of  anarchy  to  national  happiness  and  glorj.  ^^ 

In  June  the  general  assembly  of  Delaware  complied  with 
all  parts  of  the  recommendation  of  congress,  coupling  the  im- 
post with  the  state's  quota  of  the  federal  requisition.!  To 
Washington,  Nicholas  Van  Dyl^e,  the  governor,  on  receiving 
the  circular,  reported  this  proof  of  their  zeal  for  establishing 
the  credit  of  the  union,  adding :  "  The  state  which  declines  a 
similar  conduct  must  be  blind  to  the  united  interest  with  which 
that  of  the  individual  states  is  inseparably  connected."  if 

Pennsylvania,  linking  together  the  North  and  the  South, 
never  hesitated  ;  then  and  ever  after,  it  made  the  reasoning  and 
the  hopefulness  of  Washington  its  own.  At  a  festival  in 
Philadelphia,  held  near  the  middle  of  July,  with  Dickinson, 
the  president  of  the  state,  in  the  chair,  the  leading  toast  was : 
"New  strength  to  the  union;"  and,  when  "Honor  and  im- 
mortality to  the  principles  in  Washington's  circular  letter  "  was 
proposed,  the  company  rose  twice  and  manifested  their  appro- 
bation by  nine  huzzas. 

A  month  later,  Dickinson  and  the  council  of  Pennsylvania 
sent  to  the  general  assembly  the  valedictory  of  the  commander- 
in-chief,  quoting  and  enforcing  his  words,  saying:  "We  most 
earnestly  recommend  that  the  confederation  be  strengthened 
and  improved.  To  advance  the  dignity  of  the  union  is  the 
best  way  to  advance  the  interest  of  each  state.  A  federal  su- 
premacy, with  a  competent  national  revenue,  to  govern  iirmly 
general  and  relative  concerns,"  can  alone  "  ensure  the  respect, 
tranquillity,  and  safety,  that  are  naturally  attached  to  an  exten- 
sive and  well-established  empire.  All  the  authorities  before 
mentioned  may  be  vested  in  a  federal  council,  not  only  with- 
out the  least  danger  to  liberty,  but  liberty  will  be  thereby 
better  secured."*^  The  house  on  the  twenty-fifth,  joining 
together  the  impost  and  the  quota  of  the  state,  unanimously 
ordered  the  grant  of  them  both,||  and  at  a  later  session  thanked 
Washington  specially  for  his  final  "circular  letter,  the  ines- 
timable legacy  bequeathed  to  his  country." 

*  Stuart's  Trumbull,  G04-G08.  |  Tapcrg  of  Old  Congress,  Ixxr.     MS. 
X  Nicholas  Van  Dyke  to  Washington,  2  July  1783. 

*  Colonial  Records,  xiii.,  648,  G49.  |1  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  Ixxv.     MS. 


92      ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.ii.;  oh.l 

In  March,  during  a  session  of  the  legislature  of  South 
Carolina,  Greene,  who  had  received  the  suggestions  of  Gouv- 
emeur  Morris,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  state  through  Guerard, 
the  governor,  representing  the  sufferings  and  mutinous  temper 
of  the  army,  and  the  need  of  a  revenue  for  congress,  and  say- 
ing :  "  Independence  can  only  prove  a  blessing  under  congres- 
sional influence.  More  is  to  be  dreaded  from  the  members  of 
congress  exercising  too  little  than  too  much  power.  The  finan- 
cier says  his  department  is  on  the  brink  of  ruin.  To  the  north- 
ward, to  the  southward,  the  eyes  of  the  army  are  turned  upon  the 
states,  whose  measures  will  determine  their  conduct.  They  will 
not  be  satisfied  -svith  general  promises ;  nothing  short  of  perma- 
nent and  certain  revenue  will  keep  them  subject  to  authority." 

"  'No  dictation  by  a  Cromwell !  "  cried  impatient  members 
who  could  scarcely  wait  to  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  letter. 
To  mark  independence  of  congress  and  resistance  to  the  requi- 
sitions of  "  its  swordsmen,"  South  CaroHna  revoked  its  grant 
to  the  United  States  of  power  to  levy  a  five  per  cent  duty 
on  imports.*  Greene  consoled  himself  with  the  thought  that 
"  he  had  done  his  duty,  and  would  await  events ; "  but  he 
was  made  wiser  by  the  rebuff.  While  he  perceived  that  with- 
out more  effectual  support  the  power  of  congress  must  expire, 
he  saw  that  the  movement  of  soldiers  without  civil  authority 
is  pregnant  with  danger,  and  would  naturally  fall  under  the 
"  direction  of  the  Clodiuses  and  Catilines  in  America."  f  The 
appeal  of  congress  in  April  exercised  little  counteracting  in- 
fluence; but,  when  the  circular  of  Washington  arrived,  the 
force  and  affection  with  which  it  was  written  produced  an 
alteration  of  sentiment  in  more  than  one  quarter  of  the  mem- 
bers. "  Washington  was  admired  before ;  now  he  vs^as  little 
less  than  adored."  J  The  continental  impost  act  was  adopted, 
though  not  without  a  clause  reserving  the  collection  of  the 
duties  to  the  officers  of  the  state,  and  appropriating  them  to 
the  payment  of  the  federal  quota  of  South  Carolina.* 

*  Johnson's  Life  of  Greene,  ii.,  387,  888. 

f  Greene  to  G.  Morris,  3  April  1783.     Sparks'  Life  of  G.  Morris,  i.,  251, 
252. 

:j:  Greene  to  Washington,  8  August  1783.     Letters  to  "Washington,  iv.,  38. 

*  Statute  No.  1,190,  passed  13  August  1783,  in  Statutes  at  Large  of  South 
Carolina,  iv.,  570. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY  OF  WASHINGTON.  93 

In  October,  Clinton,  the  governor  of  New  York,  responded 
to  WasHngton :  "  Unless  tlie  powers  of  the  national  council 
are  enlarged,  and  that  body  better  supported  than  at  present, 
all  its  measures  will  discover  such  feebleness  and  want  of 
energy  as  will  stain  us  with  disgrace  and  expose  us  to  the  worst 
of  evils."  *  And  in  the  following  January,  holding  up  to 
the  legislature  the  last  circular  of  the  commander-in-chief,  he 
charged  them  to  "  be  attentive  to  every  measure  which  has  a 
tendency  to  cement  the  union  and  to  give  to  the  national 
councils  that  energy  which  may  be  necessary  for  the  general 
welfare."  f 

The  circular  reached  Massachusetts  just  when  the  legisla- 
ture was  complaining  of  the  half-pay  and  of  excessively  large 
salaries  to  civil  officers.  The  senate  and  the  house  dispatched 
a  most  affectionate  joint  address  to  "Washington,  attributing  to 
the  guidance  of  an  all-wise  Providence  his  selection  as  com- 
mander-in-chief, adding:  "While  patriots  shall  not  cease  to 
applaud  your  sacred  attachment  to  the  rights  of  citizens,  your 
military  virtue  and  achievements  will  make  the  brightest  pages 
in  the  history  of  mankind."  J  To  congress  the  legislature 
gave  assurances  that  ^4t  could  not  without  horror  entertain  the 
most  distant  idea  of  the  dissolution  of  the  union ; "  though 
"the  extraordinary  grants  of  congress  to  civil  and  military 
officers  had  produced  in  the  commonwealth  effects  of  a  threat- 
ening aspect."  *  John  Hancock,  the  popular  governor,  com- 
mending Washington's  circular,  looked  to  him  as  the  states- 
man "  of  wisdom  and  experience,"  teaching  them  how  to  im- 
prove to  the  happiest  purposes  the  advantages  gained  by  arms. 

As  president  of  the  senate,  Samuel  Adams  officially  signed 
the  remonstrance  of  Massachusetts  against  half -pay  ;  as  a  citi- 
zen, he  frankly  and  boldly,  in  his  own  state  and  in  Connecti- 
cut, defended  the  advice  of  Washington:  "In  resisting  en- 
croachments on  our  rights,  an  army  became  necessary.  Con- 
gress were  and  ought  to  be  the  sole  judge  of  the  means  of 
supporting  that  army ;  they  had  an  undoubted  right  in  the 
very  nature  of  their  appointment  to  make  the  grant  of  haK 

*  Clinton  to  Washington,  14  October  1*783.     Letters  to  Washington,  iv.,  48. 

f  Speech  to  the  legislature,  21  January  1784. 

X  Boston  Gazette,  22  August  1783.  «  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  27G 


94      ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.  ii.  ;  ch.  i. 

pay ;  and,  as  it  was  made  in  belialf  of  the  United  States,  each 
state  is  bound  in  justice  to  comply  with  it,  even  though  it 
should  seem  to  them  to  have  been  an  ill-judged  measure. 
States  as  well  as  individual  persons  are  equally  bound  to  fulfil 
their  engagements,  and  it  is  one  part  of  the  description  given 
to  us  in  the  sacred  scriptures  of  an  honest  man,  that,  though 
*  he  sweareth  to  his  own  hurt,  he  changeth  not.'  "  * 

In  like  spirit  congress  replied  to  the  protest  against  half- 
pay.  "  The  measure  was  the  result  of  a  deliberate  judgment 
framed  on  a  general  view  of  the  interests  of  the  union,  and 
pledged  the  national  faith  to  carry  it  into  effect.  If  a  state 
every  way  so  important  as  Massachusetts  should  withhold  her 
solid  support  to  constitutional  measures  of  the  confederacy,  the 
result  must  be  a  dissolution  of  the  union  ;  and  then  she  must 
hold  herself  as  alone  responsible  for  the  anarchy  and  domestic 
confusion  that  may  succeed."  f 

At  the  opening  of  the  autumn  session,  Hancock,  recalling 
the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  words  of  Washington, 
said :  ''  How  to  strengthen  and  improve  this  union,  so  as  to 
render  it  more  completely  adequate,  demands  the  immediate 
attention  of  these  states.  Our  very  existence  as  a  free  nation 
is  suspended  upon  it."  :j: 

On  the  ninth  of  October  he  cited  to  the  general  court  ex- 
tracts of  letters  from  John  Adams  confirming  the  sentiments 
of  Washington.  J^ear  forty  towns  in  the  state  had  instructed 
their  representatives  against  granting  the  impost  recommended 
by  congress.  And  yet  it  was  carried  in  the  house  by  seventy- 
two  against  sixty-five  ;  a  proviso  that  it  should  not  be  used  to 
discharge  half -pay  or  its  commutation  was  rejected  by  a  ma- 
jority of  ten ;  and  the  bill  passed  the  senate  almost  unani- 
mously.'*    Some  of  the  towns  still  murmured,  but  Boston  in 

*  Samuel  Adams  to  a  friend  in  Connecticut.  Boston,  25  September  1*783. 
Same  to  Noah  Webster,  30  April  1V84.     MS. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv,,  277,  278.  Congress,  on  which  "Washington  was 
then  in  attendance,  would  surely  have  consulted  him  on  the  half-pay  of  which  he 
was  the  author.  The  original  papers  prove  that  the  congressional  reply  to  Massa- 
chusetts was  prepared  after  much  consultation,  and  here  and  there  show  traces 
of  his  mind.  j;.  Salem  Gazette  of  2  October  1783. 

*  Samuel  Cooper  to  Franklin,  16  October  1783.  Works  of  Franklin,  x.,  25. 
Salem  Gazette,  30  October  1783. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY  OF  WASHINGTON.  95 

town-meeting  answered :  *^  The  commutation  is  wisely  blended 
with  the  national  debt.  With  respect  to  the  impost,  if  we 
ever  mean  to  be  a  nation,  we  must  give  power  to  congress, 
and  funds,  too." 

But  AYashington's  letter  achieved  its  greatest  victory  in  his 
own  state.  Mercer  had  said  in  congress  that,  sooner  than  re- 
instate the  impost,  he  would  "  crawl  to  Kichmond  on  his  bare 
knees."  *  The  legislature,  which  was  in  session  when  the  com- 
munication from  congress  arrived,  ordered  a  bill  to  grant  the 
impost.  Jefferson  was  hoping  that  Henry  would  speak  for  the 
grant,  but  he  remained  mute  in  his  place,  j-  Richard  Henry 
Lee  and  Thurston  spoke  of  congress  as  "  lusting  for  power." 
The  extent  of  the  implied  powers  which  Hamilton  had  as- 
serted in  the  letter  of  congress  to  Rhode  Island  was  "  repro- 
bated as  alarming  and  of  dangerous  tendency ; "  :j:  and  on  the 
eleventh  of  June  the  proposition  of  congress  was  pronounced 
to  be  inadmissible,  because  the  revenue-officers  were  not  to  be 
amenable  to  the  commonwealth ;  because  the  power  of  collect- 
ing a  revenue  by  penal  laws  could  not  be  delegated  without 
danger ;  and  because  the  moneys  to  be  raised  from  citizens  of 
Yirginia  were  to  go  into  the  general  treasury.  So  the  propo- 
sition of  congress  was  left  without  any  support.  Yirginia,  to 
discharge  her  continental  debt,  preferred  to  establish  a  custom- 
house of  her  o^vn,  appropriating  its  income  to  congress  for 
five-and-twenty  years,  and  making  good  the  deficiency  by  taxes 
on  land,  negroes,  and  polls.  "The  state,"  said  Arthur  Lee, 
"  is  resolved  not  to  suffer  the  exercise  of  any  foreign  power 
or  influence  within  it."  *  But,  when  the  words  of  Washington 
were  read,  the  house  gave  leave  to  the  advocates  for  a  conti- 
nental impost  to  provide  for  it  by  a  bill  which  v/as  to  have  its 
first  reading  at  the  opening  of  the  next  session. 

These  events  did  but  render  Richard  Henry  Lee  more  ob- 
durate. Placing  himself  directly  in  the  way  of  Washington 
and  Madison,  he  wrote  to  a  friend  at  the  North :  "  The  late 

*  Jladison  to  Randolph,  18  February  1783.     Gilpin,  506. 
f  Jefferson  to  Madison,  7  May,  1  Juno,  17  June  1783. 

:}:  Joseph  Jones  of  King  George  to  Madison,  14  June  1783,  MS. ;  in  part  in 
Kivcs's  Madison,  i.,  436. 

*  Arthur  Lee  to  Thcodorick  Bland,  13  June  1783.     Bland  Papers,  ii.,  110. 


96      ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION",    b.  ii.  ;  ch.  i. 

address  of  congress  to  the  states  on  the  impost  I  think  a  too 
early  and  too  strong  attempt  to  overleap  those  fences  estab- 
lished by  the  confederation  to  secure  the  liberties  of  the  re- 
spective states.  Give  the  purse  to  an  aristocratic  assembly,  the 
sword  will  follow,  and  liberty  become  an  empty  name.  As 
for  increasing  the  power  of  congress,  I  would  answer  as  the 
discerning  men  of  old,  with  the  change  of  a  word  only :  ^  ]N"o- 
lumus  leges  confederationis  mutari — we  forbid  change  in  the 
laws  of  the  confederation.' "  ^  But,  in  the  time  afforded  for 
reflection,  Washington's  valedictory  letter,  which  Jefferson  de- 
scribes as  "  deservedly  applauded  by  the  world,"  f  gained  more 
and  more  power ;  at  the  adjourned  session,  the  legislature  of 
Virginia,  with  absolute  unanimity,  reversed  its  decision  and 
granted  by  law  the  continental  impost,  if  "  Everything  will 
come  right  at  last,"  said  Washington,  as  he  heard  the  gladden- 
ing news.* 

"ISTever,"  said  George  Mason,  "have  I  heard  one  single 
man  deny  the  necessity  and  propriety  of  the  union.  'No  ob- 
ject can  be  lost  when  the  mind  of  every  man  in  the  country 
is  strongly  attached  to  it."  ||  "  I  do  not  believe,"  witnesses 
Jefferson,  "  there  has  ever  been  a  moment  when  a  single  whig 
in  any  one  state  would  not  have  shuddered  at  the  very  idea  of 
a  separation  of  their  state  from  the  confederacy."  '^  A  propo- 
sition had  been  made  in  June  to  revoke  the  release  to  the 
United  States  of  the  territory  north-west  of  the  river  Ohio. 
Patrick  Henry  was  for  bounding  the  state  reasonably  enough, 
but,  instead  of  ceding  the  parts  lopped  off,  he  was  for  forming 
them  into  small  republics  ()  under  the  direction  of  Yirginia. 
I^evertheless,  the  legislature,  guided  by  the  sincerity  and  per- 
severance of  Joseph  Jones  of  King  George  county,  conformed 
to  the  wishes  of  congress,  and,  on  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth 
of  December,  cheerfully  amended  and  confirmed  their  former 
cession.  J 

The  last  legislature  to  address  Washington  in  his  j)iiblic 

*  R.  n.  Lee  to  William  AYhipple,  1  July  llSS,        f  Jefferson's  Works,  ix.,  266. 

:j:  Hening,  xi.,  313.  *  Sparks,  ix.,  5. 

I  George  Mason  in  the  Virginia  Convention,  11  June  1788. 

^  Jefferson,  ix.,  251.  ^  Jefferson  to  ^^ladison,  11  June  1783. 

4;  Journals  of  House  of  Delegates,  71,  79. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY  OF  WASHINGTON.  97 

character  was  Maryland,  and  thej  said  :  "  By  your  letter  you 
have  taught  us  how  to  value,  preserve,  and  improve  that 
liberty  which  your  services  under  the  smiles  of  Providence 
have  secured.  If  the  powers  given  to  congress  by  the  con- 
federation should  be  found  incompetent  to  the  purposes  of  the 
union,  our  constituents  will  readily  consent  to  enlarge  them."'^ 

On  the  part  of  congress,  its  president,  Elias  Eoudinot  of 
New  Jersey,  transmitted  to  the  ministers  of  America  in  Europe 
the  circular  letter  of  Washington  as  the  most  perfect  evidence 
of  "  his  inimitable  character."  f 

Before  the  end  of  June,  raw  recruits  of  the  Pennsylvania 
line,  in  the  barracks  at  Philadelphia,  many  of  them  foreign 
born,  joined  by  others  from  Lancaster, :[:  "  soldiers  of  a  day,  who 
could  have  very  few  hardships  to  complain  of,"  *  with  some 
returning  veterans  whom  they  forced  into  their  ranks,  |  en- 
couraged by  no  officer  of  note,  "^  surrounding  congress  ^  and 
the  council  of  Pennsylvania,  mutinously  presented  to  them 
demands  for  pay.  Congress  insisted  with  the  state  authorities 
that  the  militia  should  be  called  out  to  restore  order,  and,  the 
request  being  refused,  J  it  adjourned  to  Princeton.  On  the 
rumor  that  the  commander-in-chief  was  sending  troops  to  quell 
the  mutiny,  the  insurgents,  about  three  hundred  in  number, 
made  their  submission  to  the  president  of  the  state.  ^ 

The  incident  hastened  the  selection  of  a  place  for  the  per- 
manent residence  of  congress.  The  articles  of  confederation 
left  congress  free  to  meet  where  it  would.  With  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  treaty  of  peace,  the  idea  naturally  arose  of  a  fede- 
ral town,  and  for  its  site  there  were  many  competitors.  Of 
the  thirteen  states  which  at  that  time  fringed  the  Atlantic,  the 
central  point  was  in  Maryland  or  Yirginia.  In  March  1783, 
ISTew  York  tendered  Kingston ;  in  May,  Maryland  urged  the 
choice  of  Annapolis ;  in  June,  New  Jersey  offered  a  district 
below  the  falls  of  the  Delaware.     Yirginia,  having  George- 

*  Address  of  the  Maryland  legislature,  22  December  1'783.     MS. 
f  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  IVSS-IYSO,  i.,  14. 

X  Ibid.,  i.,  9.  *  Sparks,  viii.,  455. 

I  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  1783-1789,  i.,  10,  22,  23;  Hamilton,  i.,  387. 
^  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  ii.,  514 ;  i.,  37,  50. 

^  Gilpin,  548 ;  Colonial  Records,  xiii.,  655.  ^  Hamilton,  ii.,  276. 

^  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  i.,  12. 
TOL.   TI. — 7 


98      ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.  ii.  ;  oh.  i. 

town  for  its  object,*  invited  Maryland  to  join  in  a  cession  of 
equal  portions  of  territory  lying  together  on  the  Potomac; 
leaving  congress  to  fix  its  residence  on  either  side,  f 

During  the  summer,  congress  appointed  a  committee  to 
consider  what  jurisdiction  it  should  exercise  in  its  abiding- 
place.  Madison  took  counsel  witli  Randolph,  and  especially 
with  Jefferson ;  J  and  in  September  the  committee  of  which 
he  was  a  member  reported  that  the  state  ceding  the  territory 
must  give  up  all  jurisdiction  over  it ;  the  inhabitants  were  to 
be  assured  of  a  government  of  laws  made  by  representatives  of 
their  own  election.*  In  October,  congress  took  up  the  ques- 
tion of  its  permanent  residence.  ||  Gerry  struggled  hard  for 
the  district  on  the  Potomac ;  but,  by  the  vote  of  Delaware  and 
all  the  northern  states,  "a  place  on  the  Delaware  near  the 
falls "  was  selected.  Within  a  few  days  the  fear  of  an  over- 
powering influence  of  the  middle  states  led  to  what  was  called 
"the  happy  coalition  ;"  on  the  seventeenth  Gerry  insisted  that 
the  alternate  residence  of  congress  in  two  places  would  secure 
the  mutual  confidence  and  affections  of  the  states  and  preserve 
the  federal  balance  of  power.  After  a  debate  of  several  days, 
'New  England,  with  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the  two  Carolinas, 
decided  that  congress  should  reside  for  equal  periods  on  the 
Delaware  and  near  the  lower  falls  of  the  Potomac.  Till  build- 
ings for  its  use  should  be  erected,  it  was  to  meet  alternately  in 
Annapolis  and  Trenton."^  To  carry  out  the  engagement,  a 
committee,  of  which  James  Monroe  was  a  member,  made  an 
excursion  from  Annapolis  in  the  following  May  to  view  the 
country  round  Georgetown  ;  and  they  reported  in  favor  of  the 
position  on  which  the  city  of  Washington  now  stands.  () 

The  farewell  circular  letter  of  Washington  addressed  to  all 
Ills  countrymen  had  attracted  the  attention  of  congress,  and 
in  particular  of  Hamilton,  who  roused  himself  from  his  own 

*  Madison  to  Randolph,  13  October  1VS3.     Gilpin,  578. 
f  Journals  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Dslep;ate3,  23  June  17S3,  p.  97. 
t  Madison  to  Jefferson,  20  September  17S3.     Gilpin,  573. 
**  Gilpin,  559,  571-575. 

I  Madison  to  Randolph,  13  October  17S3.     Gilpin,  57G. 

^  Iligginson  to  Bland,  January  1784.     Bland  Papers,  ii.,  113,  114.     Compare 
Boudinot  to  R.  R.  Livingston,  23  October  1783. 
^  Monroe  to  Jefferson,  20  May  and  25  May  1784. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY   OF  WASHINGTOK  99 

desponding  mood  wlien  lie  saw  the  great  chieftain  go  forth 
alone  to  combat  "  the  epidemic  phrenzy "  *  of  the  supreme 
sovereignty  of  the  separate  states.  During  the  time  of  dis- 
turbances in  the  army,  "  could  force  have  availed,  he  had 
almost  wished  to  see  it  employed."  f  Knowing  nothing  before- 
hand of  Washington's  intention  to  address  the  people,  he  had 
favored  some  combined  action  of  congress  and  the  general  to 
compel  the  states  forthwith  to  choose  between  national  anarchy 
and  a  consolidated  union.:]:  ISTo  sooner  had  congress  established 
itself  in  Princeton*  than  the  youthful  statesman  drafted  a 
most  elaborate  and  comprehensive  series  of  resolutions  embody- 
ing in  clear  and  definite  language  the  defects  in  the  confedera- 
tion as  a  form  of  federal  government;  and  closing  with  an 
earnest  recommendation  to  the  several  states  to  appoint  a  con- 
vention to  meet  at  a  fixed  time  and  place,  w^ith  full  powers  to 
revise  the  confederation,  and  adopt  and  propose  such  altera- 
tions as  to  them  should  appear  necessary;  to  be  finally  ap- 
proved or  rejected  by  the  states  respectively. 

But  in  the  congress  of  that  day  he  found  httle  disposition 
to  second  an  immediate  effort  for  a  new  constitution.  Of  the 
committee  elected  on  the  twenty- eighth  of  April,  which 
counted  among  its  members  the  great  names  of  Ellsworth, 
Wilson,  and  Hamilton,  Wilson  and  two  others  had  gone  home ; 
Ellsworth  followed  in  the  first  half  of  July,  but  not  till  he  had 
announced  to  the  governor  of  Connecticut :  "  It  will  soon  be 
of  very  little  consequence  where  congress  go,  if  they  are  not 
made  respectable  as  well  as  responsible ;  which  can  never  be 
done  without  giving  them  a  power  to  perform  engagements  as 
well  as  make  them.  /  There  must  be  a  revenue  somehow  estab- 
lished that  can  be  relied  on  and  applied  for  national  purposes, 
independent  of  the  will  of  a  single  state,  or  it  will  be  impossi- 
ble to  support  national  faith,  or  national  existence.  \  The 
powers  of  congress  must  be  adequate  to  the  purposes  of  their 
constitution.  It  is  possible  there  may  be  abuses  and  misappli- 
cations ;  still  it  is  better  to  hazard  something  than  to  hazard 

*  Hamilton,  i.,  403.  f  Ibid.,  i.,  352.  t  I^i^^M  i-,  402. 

*  Hamilton's  endorsement  on  his  own  paper  is :  *'  Resolutions  intended  to  bo 
submitted  to  congress  at  Princeton  in  1783,  but  abandoned  for  want  of  support." 
MS. 


100    OIT  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDEKAL  CONVENTION,    b.  ii.  ;  en.  i. 

all."  ^^  ISTearl  J  at  the  same  moment  Hamilton  wrote  to 
Greene  :  "  There  is  so  little  disposition,  either  in  or  ont  of  con- 
gress, to  give  solidity  to  onr  national  system,  that  there  is  no 
motive  to  a  man  to  lose  his  time  in  the  public  service  who  has 
no  other  view  than  to  promote  its  welfare.  Experience  must 
convince  us  that  our  present  establishments  are  Utopian  before 
we  shall  be  ready  to  part  with  them  for  better."  To  Jay  his 
words  were :  "  It  is  to  be  hoped  that,  when  prejudice  and  folly 
have  run  themselves  out  of  breath,  we  may  return  to  reason 
and  correct  our  errors."  f  Confirmed  in  "  his  ill  forebodings 
as  to  the  future  system  of  the  country,"  :[:  "  he  abandoned  his 
resolutions  for  the  want  of  support." 

In  congress,  which  he  left  near  the  end  of  July,  three 
months  before  the  period  for  which  he  was  chosen  expired,  we 
know  through  an  ardent  friend  that  "  his  homilies  were  recol- 
lected with  pleasure ; "  that  his  extreme  zeal  made  impressions 
in  favor  of  his  integrity,  honor,  and  republican  principles ;  that 
he  had  displayed  various  knowledge,  had  been  sometimes  in- 
temperate and  sometimes,  though  rarely,  visionary ;  that  cau- 
tious statesmen  thought,  if  he  could  pursue  an  object  with  as 
much  cold  perseverance  as  he  could  defend  it  with  ardor  and 
argument,  he  would  prove  irresistible.*  From  the  goodness  of 
his  heart,  his  pride,  and  his  sense  of  duty,  he  gave  up  "  future 
views  of  public  life,"  ||  to  toil  for  the  support  of  his  wife  and 
children  in  a  profession  of  which  to  him  the  labors  were  alike 
engrossing  and  irksome.''"  In  four  successive  years,  vdth  few 
to  heed  him,  he  had  written  and  spoken  for  a  constituent 
federal  convention.  His  last  ofiicial  word  to  Clinton  was : 
"  Strengthen  the  confederation."  ^ 

On  the  second  of  September,  more  than  a  month  after 
Hamilton  had  withdrawn,  the  remnant  of  the  committee  of 
the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  increased  by  Samuel  Huntington, 
of  Connecticut,  reported  that  "  until  the  effect  of  the  resolu- 

*  Ellsworth,  infra,  824.  f  Johnson,  ii.,  442.     Jay's  Jay,  ii.,  123. 
X  Hamilton,  !.,  352. 

*  McHenry  to  Hamilton,  22  October  ITSS.     Hamilton,  i.,  411. 
II  Hamilton  to  Clinton,  14  May  1783.     Hamilton,  i.,  368. 

^  That  Hamilton  disliked  the  labors  of  a  lawyer,  I  received  from  Eliphalet 
Nott. 

^  Hamilton  to  Clinton,  3  October  1783.    Hamilton,  i,,  407. 


1783.  XnE  LEGACY   OF  WASHINGTON.  IQl 

ticn  of  congress,  of  April  last,  relating  to  revenue,  should  be 
known,  it  would  be  proper  to  postpone  the  further  considera- 
tion of  the  concurrent  resolutions  of  the  senate  and  assembly 
of  JSTew  York."  '^'  In  this  way  the  first  proposition  by  a  state 
for  reforming  the  government  through  a  federal  convention 
was  put  to  sleep. 

All  this  while  the  British  commander  was  preparing  for 
the  evacuation  of  New  York.  The  malignant  cruelty  of  royal- 
ists, especially  in  New  York  and  South  Carolina,  who  prompted 
and  loved  to  execute  the  ruthless  orders  of  Germain,  aroused 
against  them,  as  had  been  foretold,  a  just  indignation,  which 
unhappily  extended  to  thousands  of  families  in  the  United 
States  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  excesses.  Toward  these 
"Washington  and  Adams,  Jay  and  Hamilton,  and  Jejfferson 
who  was  especially  called  "  their  protector  and  support,"  f  and 
many  of  the  best  counselled  forbearance  and  forgiveness.  Mo- 
tives of  policy  urged  their  absorption  into  the  population  of 
the  union  now  that  the  sovereign  to  whom  they  had  continued 
their  allegiance  had  given  them  their  release.  But  a  dread  of 
their  political  influence  prevailed,  and  before  the  end  of  1783 
thousands  of  loyalists,  famiKes  of  superior  culture,  like  the 
original  planters  of  Massachusetts,  were  driven  to  seek  homes 
in  the  wilds  of  Nova  Scotia.  :j:  In  this  way  the  United  States 
out  of  their  own  children  built  up  on  their  border  a  colony  of 
rivals  in  navigation  and  the  fishery  whose  loyalty  to  the  British 
cro^vn  was  sanctified  by  misfortunes.  Nor  did  the  British 
parliament  hesitate  for  a  moment  to  compensate  all  refugees 
for  the  confiscation  of  their  property,  and,  when  the  amount 
was  ascertained,  it  voted  them  from  the  British  treasury  as  an 
indemnity  very  nearly  fifteen  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars.* 

The  American  army  being  nearly  disbanded,  Washington, 
on  the  eighteenth  of  July,  with  Governor  Clinton  as  his  com- 
panion, made  an  excursion  into  the  interior,  during  which  he 
personally  examined  the  lines  of  water  communication  between 
branches  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Saint  Lawrence,  the  lakes  and 
the  Susquehanna.     By  these  observations,  he  comprehended 

*  Report  cf  Peters,  Mcncnr}',  Iz:ird,  Duane,  and  S.  Huntingdon,  of  2  Septem- 
ber 1 783.  f  Luzerne  to  Rayneval,  of  IS  June  1784.     MS. 
:}:  Ilaliburton's  Nova  ScoLia,  i.,  263.  *  Sabine's  Loyalists,  111. 


102    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.  ii.  ;  en.  i. 

more  clearly  "the  imraense  extent  and  importance  of  tlie 
inland  navigation  of  the  United  States.  I  shall  not  rest  con- 
tented," said  he,  "till  I  have  explored  the  western  country 
and  traversed  great  part  of  those  lines  which  give  bounds  to  a 
new  empire."  * 

He  wished  at  that  time  to  visit  the  I^iagara ;  but  over  the 
fort  on  the  American  side  of  that  river  the  British  flag  still 
waved.  Thrice  Washington  had  invited  the  attention  of  con- 
gress to  the  western  posts ;  and  he  was  now  inctructed  to 
demand  them.  He  accordingly  accredited  Steuben  to  Haldi- 
mand,  the  British  commander-in  chief  in  Canada,  with  power 
to  receive  them.  At  Sorel,  on  the  eighth  of  August,  Steuben 
explained  his  mission  to  Haldimand,  who  answered  that  he 
had  not  received  any  orders  for  making  the  least  arrangements 
for  the  evacuation  of  a  single  post;  and  without  positive 
orders  he  would  not  evacuate  one  inch  of  ground,  f  Nor 
would  he  permit  Steuben  to  communicate  with  the  inhabitants 
of  any  place  occupied  by  the  British. 

On  the  seventh  of  August,  just  as  Washington  had  re- 
turned from  his  northern  tour,  congress,  ten  states  being  pres- 
ent, unanimously  voted  him  a  statue  of  bronze,  to  be  executed 
hj  the  best  artist  of  Europe,  j;.  On  the  marble  pedestal  were 
to  be  represented,  in  low  relief,  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  the 
capture  of  Hessians  at  Trenton,  the  victory  at  Princeton,  the 
action  at  Monmouth,  and  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  York- 
town.  "The  statue,"  wrote  Luzerne,  "is  the  only  mark  of 
public  gratitude  which  Washington  can  accept,  and  the  only 
one  which  the  government  in  its  poverty  can  offer."  * 

But  a  greater  honor  awaited  him.  At  the  request  of  con- 
gress, he  removed  his  quarters  to  the  neighborhood  of  Prince- 
ton ;  and  on  the  twenty-sixth,  in  a  public  audience,  Boudinot, 
the  president,  said  to  him :  "  In  other  nations  many  have  de- 
served and  received  the  thanks  of  the  public  ;  but  to  you,  sir, 
peculiar  praise  is  due;  your  services  have  been  essential  in 

*  Washington  to  Chastellux,  12  October  1783.     Sparks,  viii.,  489. 

f  Baron  Steuben  to  Washington,  23  August  1783.     Letters  to  Washington, 
iv.,  41,  42. 

X  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.^  251.     It  still  remains  to  give  effect  to  the  vote. 

*  Luzerne  to  Vergeanes,  25  August  1783.     MS. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY  OF   WASHINGTON.  103 

acquiring  and  establishing  the  freedom  and  independence  of 
your  country.  It  still  needs  your  services  in  forming  arrange- 
ments for  the  time  of  peace."  A  committee  was  charged  to 
receive  his  assistance  in  preparing  and  directing  the  necessary 
plans.'"* 

The  choice  of  Wasliington  for  a  counsellor  proved  the  sin- 
cerity of  congress  in  favor  of  union,  and  a  series  of  national 
measures  was  inaugurated.  For  a  peace  establishment,  he  ma- 
tured a  system  which  was  capable  of  a  gradual  development. 
He  would  have  a  regular  and  standing  force  of  twenty-six  hun- 
dred and  thh'ty-one  men,  to  be  employed  chiefly  in  garrison- 
ing the  frontier  posts.  Light  troops  he  specially  recommended 
as  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  people.  The  people  in  all  the 
states  were  to  be  organized  and  trained  in  arms  as  one  grand 
national  militia.  He  proposed  a  military  academy  like  the 
Prussian  schools,  of  which  he  had  learned  the  character  from 
Steuben.  Yacancies  in  the  class  of  ofiicers  were  to  be  iilled 
from  its  graduates ;  but  promotions  were  not  to  depend  on 
seniority  alone.  For  the  materials  essential  to  war,  there  were 
to  be  not  only  national  arsenals  but  national  manufactories. 
The  protection  of  foreign  commerce  would  require  a  navy. 
All  branches  in  the  service  were  to  look  exclusively  to  con- 
gress for  their  orders  and  their  pay.  A  penniless  treasury, 
which  congress  knew  not  how  to  fill,  made  the  scheme  for  the 
moment  an  ideal  one. 

To  regulate  intercourse  with  the  tribes  of  Indians,  Wash- 
ington laid  down  the  outlines  of  a  system.  Outside  of  the 
limits  of  the  states  no  purchase  of  their  lands  was  to  be  made, 
but  by  the  United  States  as  '^  the  sovereign  power."  All  trad- 
ers with  them  were  to  be  under  strict  control.  He  penetrated 
the  sinister  design  of  the  British  government  to  hold  the  west- 
ern posts,  and  recommended  friendly  attention  to  the  French 
and  other  settlers  at  Detroit  and  elsewhere  in  the  western  terri- 
tory. Looking  to  "  the  formation  of  new  states,"  he  sketched 
the  boundaries  of  Ohio  and  of  Michigan,  and,  on  his  advice,t 
congress  in  October  resolved  on  appointing  a  committee  to  re- 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  256. 

f  Washington  to  Duanc,  Y  September  1783.     Sparks,  viii.,  477.     Secret  Jour- 
nals of  Congress,  i.,  255-260. 


104    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CON-YENTION.    b.ii.;  en.  i. 

port  a  plan  of  a  temporary  government  for  the  western  terri- 
tory whose  inhabitants  were  one  day  to  be  received  into  the 
nnion  under  republican  constitutions  of  their  own  choice. 
Here  the  greatness  of  the  intention  was  not  impaired  by  the 
public  penury,  for  the  work  was  to  be  executed  by  the  emi- 
grants themselves.  In  anticipation  of  an  acceptable  cession  of 
the  noi-th- western  lands  by  all  the  claimant  states,  officers  and 
soldiers  who  had  a  right  to  bounty  lands  began  to  gain  the 
"West  by  way  of  the  lakes  or  across  the  mountains.*  This  was 
the  movement  toward  union  which  nothing  could  repress  or 
weaken.  Especially  Maryland  insisted  that  "  the  sovereignty 
over  the  western  territory  was  vested  in  the  United  States  as 
one  undivided  and  independent  nation."  f 

Among  his  latest  official  acts,  Washington  interceded  with 
congress  on  behalf  of  Kosciuszko,  pleading  for  him  ''  his  merit 
and  services  from  the  concurrent  testimony  of  all  who  knew 
him ; "  and  congress  accordingly  granted  the  Polish  exile  who 
was  to  become  dear  to  many  nations  the  brevet  commission  of 
brigadier-general.  J 

The  last  days  of  this  congress  were  cheered  by  the  arrival 
of  Yan  Berckel  as  envoy  from  the  Dutch  republic,  the  first 
minister  accredited  to  America  since  the  peace.*  An  escort 
was  sent  out  to  meet  him,  and  on  the  thirty-first  of  October,  in 
a  public  audience,  congress  gave  him  a  national  welcome. 

On  the  first  of  N"ovember  the  third  congress  under  the  con- 
federation came  together  for  the  last  time.  It  made  persistent 
attempts  to  invigorate  the  union ;  declared  the  inviolable  sanc- 
tity of  the  national  debt ;  asked  of  the  states  a  general  revenue ; 
prepared  for  planting  new  states  in  the  continental  domain ; 
and  extended  diplomatic  relations.  Its  demand  of  powers  of 
government  did  not  reach  far  enough,  but  it  kept  alive  the  de- 
sire of  reform.  It  appointed  a  day  of  public  thanksgiving,  that 
"  all  the  people  might  assemble  to  give  praise  to  their  Supreme 
Benefactor  for  the  freedom,  sovereignty,  and  independence  of 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv,,  29-4-296. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  265.     In  the  original  MS.  the  word  "  one  "  is  twice 
underscored. 

X  Washington  to  Congress,  2  October  1788.     Sparks,  viii.,  487. 

*  Van  Bcrckcl  to  the  states  creneral,  3  November  1783.     MS. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY   OF  WASHINGTON.  105 

tlie  United  States ; "  and,  as  the  day  came,  tlie  pulpit  echoed 
the  prayer :  "  May  all  the  states  be  one."  '^* 

The  principle  of  rotation  drove  Madison  from  the  national 
conncils.  He  was  unmarried  and  above  care ;  and,  until  he 
should  again  be  eligible  to  congress,  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
ctudy  of  federal  government  and  to  public  service  in  the  leg- 
islature of  his  own  state,  where  with  strong  convictions  and 
unselfish  patriotism  he  wrought  with  single-minded ness  to 
bring  about  an  efficient  form  of  republican  government. 
He  was  calm,  wakeful,  and  cautious,  pursuing  v/ith  patience 
his  one  great  object,  never  missing  an  opportunity  to  ad- 
vance it,  caring  not  overmuch  for  conspicuousness  or  fame, 
and  ever  ready  to  efface  himself  if  he  could  but  accomplish 
his  design. 

On  Sunday,  the  second  of  ISTovember,  the  day  before  the 
discharge  of  all  persons  enlisted  for  the  war,  the  commander- 
in-chief  addressed  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  however 
widely  their  members  might  be  dispersed.  Mingling  affection- 
ate thanks  with  praise,  he  described  their  unparalleled  j)erse- 
verance  for  eiglit  long  years  as  little  short  of  a  standing  mira- 
cle, and  for  their  solace  bade  them  call  to  recollection  the 
astonishing  events  in  which  they  had  taken  part,  the  enlarged 
prospects  of  happiness  which  they  had  assisted  to  open  for  the 
human  race.  He  encouraged  them  as  citizens  to  renew  their 
old  occupations ;  and,  to  those  hardy  soldiers  who  were  fond  of 
domestic  enjoyment  and  personal  independence,  he  pointed  to 
the  fertile  regions  beyond  the  AUeghanies  as  the  most  happy 
asylum.  In  the  moment  of  parting,  he  held  up  as  an  examjDle 
to  the  country  the  harmony  which  had  prevailed  in  the  camp, 
where  men  from  different  parts  of  the  continent  and  of  the 
most  violent  local  prejudices  instantly  became  but  one  patriotic 
band  of  brothers.  "  Although  the  general,"  these  are  the  words 
of  his  last  order,  "  has  so  frequently  given  it  as  his  opinion  in 
the  most  public  and  explicit  manner,  that,  unless  the  principles 
of  the  federal  government  were  properly  supported,  and  the 
powers  of  the  union  increased,  the  honor,  dignity,  and  justice 
of  the  nation  would  be  lost  forever,  yet  he  cannot  help  leaving 
it  as  his  last  injunction  to  every  officer  and  every  soldier  to  add 

*  John  Murray's  thanksgiving  sermon,  Tyranny's  grove  destroyed,  p.  71. 


108    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERxiL  CONVENTION,    e.  ii.  ;  on.  i. 

Ills  best  endeavors  tov/ard  e:aectmg  these  great  purposes."  * 
Wasliington  sent  forth,  every  one  of  his  fellow-soldiers  as  an 
r.postle  of  union  under  a  new  constitution. 

Almost  all  the  Germans  who  had  been  prisoners  preferred 
to  abide  in  the  United  States,  where  they  soon  became  useful 
citizens.  The  remnant  of  the  British  army  had  crossed  to 
Staten  Island  and  Long  Island  for  embarkation,  when,  on  the 
twenty-Jifth  of  November,  Washington  and  the  governor  and 
other  officers  of  the  state  and  city  of  ISTew  York  were  met  at 
the  Bowery  by  Knox  and  citizens,  and  in  orderly  procession 
made  their  glad  progress  into  the  heart  of  the  town.  Rejoic- 
ings followed.  The  emblem  chosen  to  introduce  the  evening 
display'  of  fireworks  was  a  dove  descending  with  the  ohve- 
branch. 

For  their  farewell  to  "Washington,  the  officers  of  the  army, 
on  the  fourth  of  December,  met  at  a  public-house  near  the 
Battery,  and  were  soon  joined  by  their  commander.  The 
thoughts  of  the  eight  years  which  they  had  passed  together, 
their  common  distresses,  their  victories,  and  now  their  parting 
from  the 'public  service,  the  future  of  themselves  and  of  their 
country,  came  thronging  to  every  mind.  JNo  relation  of  friend- 
ship is  stronger  or  more  tender  than  that  between  men  who 
have  shared  together  the  perils  of  war  in  a  noble  and  upright 
cause.  The  officers  could  attest  that  the  courage  which  is  the 
most  perfect  and  the  most  rare,  the  courage  which  determines 
the  man,  without  the  least  hesitation,  to  hold  his  life  of  less 
account  than  the  success  of  the  cause  for  which  he  contends, 
was  the  habit  of  Washington.  Pledo^ing:  them  in  a  p^lass  of 
wine,  he  thus  addressed  them:  ^'With  a  heart  full  of  love 
and  gratitude,  I  now  take  leave  of  you.  May  your  latter  days 
be  as  prosperous  and  happy  as  your  former  ones  have  been 
glorious.  I  shall  be  obliged  to  you  if  each  of  you  will  come 
and  take  me  by  the  hand."  With  tears  on  his  cheeks,  he 
grasped  the  hand  of  Knox,  who  stood  nearest,  and  embraced 
him.  In  the  same  manner  he  took  leave  of  every  officer.  Fol- 
lowed by  the  company  in  a  silent  procession,  he  passed  through 
a  corps  of  light  infantry  to  the  ferry  at  Whitehall.     Entering 

*  FarevrcU  address  to  the  armies  of  the  United  States.     Rocky  Hill,  near 
Princeton,  2  November  1'733.     Sparks,  viii.,  496. 


1783.  THE  LEGACY  OF  WASHINGTON.  107 

his  barge,  lie  Avaved  liis  liat  to  tliem ;  with  the  eame  silence 
they  returned  that  last  voiceless  farewell,  and  the  boat  pushed 
across  the  Hudson.  A  father  parting  from  his  childron  could 
not  excite  more  regret  nor  draw  more  tears."-^ 

On  his  way  through  E"ew  Jersey  the  chief  was  received 
with  the  tenderest  respect  and  affection  by  all  classes  of  men. 
The  roads  were  covered  with  people  who  came  from  all  quar- 
ters to  see  him,  to  get  near  to  him,  to  speak  to  him.  Alone 
and  ready  to  lay  down  in  the  hands  of  congress  the  command 
which  had  been  confided  to  him,  he  appeared  even  greater  than 
when  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States. 
The  inhabitants  of  Philadelphia  knew  that  ho  was  drav/ing 
near,  and,  without  other  notice,  an  innumerable  crowd  placed 
themselves  along  the  road  where  he  was  to  pass.  Women,  aged 
men,  left  their  houses  to  see  him.  Children  passed  among  the 
horses  to  touch  his  garments.  Acclamations  of  joy  and  grati- 
tude accompanied  him  in  all  the  streets.  Never  was  hom- 
age more  spontaneous  or  more  pure.  The  general  enjoyed 
the  scene,  and  owned  himself  by  this  moment  repaid  for  eight 
years  of  toils  and  wants  and  tribulations. f 

At  Philadelphia  he  put  into  the  hands  of  the  comptroller 
his  accounts  to  the  thirteenth  of  December  1783,  all  written 
with  minute  exactness  by  his  o^vn  hand,  and  accompanied  by 
vouchers  conveniently  arranged.  Every  debit  against  him  v/as 
credited ;  but,  as  he  had  not  always  made  an  entry  of  moneys 
of  his  own  expended  in  the  public  service,  he  was,  and  chose 
to  remain,  a  considerable  loser.  To  the  last  he  refused  all 
compensation  and  all  indemnity,  though  his  resources  had  been 
greatly  diminished  by  the  war. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  December,  at  noon,  congress  in 
Annapolis  received  the  commander-in-chief.  Its  members, 
when  seated,  wore  their  hats,  as  a  sign  that  they  represented 
the  sovereignty  of  the  union.  Places  were  assigned  to  the 
governor,  council,  and  legislature  of  Maryland,  to  general  offi- 
cers, and  to  the  representative  of  France.  Spectators  filled, 
the  gallery  and  crowded  upon  the  floor.  Hope  gladdened  all 
as  they  forecast  the  coming  greatness  of  their  land. 

*  Luzerne  to  Ycrgenncs,  13  December  17S3.     MS. 
I  Ibid. 


108  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  ch.  i. 

Eising  wltli  dignity,  Washington  spoke  of  tlie  rectitude  of 
the  common  cause ;  the  support  of  congress ;  of  his  country- 
men ;  of  Providence  ;  and  he  commended  the  interests  of  "  our 
dearest  country  to  the  care  of  Ahuighty  God.*'  Then  saying 
that  he  had  finished  the  work  assigned  him  to  do,  he  bade  an 
affectionate  farewell  to  the  august  body  under  whose  orders  he 
had  so  long  acted,  resigned  with  satisfaction  the  commission 
which  he  had  accepted  with  diffidence,  and  took  leave  of  public 
life.  His  emotion  was  so  great  that,  as  he  advanced  and  de- 
livered up  his  commission,  he  seemed  unable  to  have  uttered 
more. 

The  hand  that  wrote  the  declaration  of  independence  pre- 
pared the  words  which,  in  the  name  of  congress,  its  president, 
turning  pale  from  excess  of  feeling,  then  addressed  to  Wash- 
ington, who  stood,  filling  and  commanding  every  eye : 

"  Sir :  The  United  States  in  congress  assembled  receive 
vdth  emotions  too  affecting  for  utterance  the  solemn  resigna- 
tion of  the  authorities  under  which  you  have  led  their  troops 
with  success  through  a  perilous  and  a  doubtful  war.  Called 
upon  by  your  country  to  defend  its  invaded  rights,  you  accept- 
ed the  sacred  charge  before  it  had  formed  alliances,  and  whilst 
it  was  without  funds  or  a  government  to  support  you.  You 
have  conducted  the  great  military  contest  with  wisdom  and  forti- 
tude, invariably  regarding  the  rights  of  the  civil  power  through 
all  disasters  and  changes.  You  have  persevered  till  these  United 
States,  aided  by  a  magnanimous  king  and  nation,  have  been  ena- 
bled under  a  just  Providence  to  close  the  war  in  freedom,  safe- 
ty, and  independence.  Having  taught  a  lesson  useful  to  those 
who  inflict  and  to  those  who  feel  oppression,  with  the  blessings 
of  your  fellow-citizens,  you  retire  from  the  great  theatre  of 
action ;  but  the  glory  of  your  virtues  will  continue  to  animate 
remotest  ages.  We  join  you  in  commending  the  interests  of 
our  dearest  country  to  the  protection  of  Almighty  God,  be- 
seeching him  to  dispose  the  hearts  and  minds  of  its  citizens  to 
improve  the  opportunity  afforded  them  of  becoming  a  happy 
and  respectable  nation." 

'No  more  pleasing  words  could  have  reached  Washington 
than  those  which  pledged  congress  to  the  reform  of  the  na- 
tional government.     The  allusion  to  the  alliance  with  France 


1783.  THE  LEGACY  OF  WASHINGTON.  109 

was  riglit,  for  otherwise  the  achievement  of  independence 
would  seem  to  have  been  attributed  to  the  United  States  alone. 
But  France  and  England  were  now  at  peace ;  and  after  their 
reconciliation  Washington,  the  happiest  of  warriors,  as  he  un- 
girded  the  sword,  would  not  recall  that  they  had  been  at  war. 
The  business  of  the  day  being  over,  "Washington  set  out 
for  Mount  Yernon,  and  on  Christmas  eve,  after  an  absence  of 
nearly  nine  years,  he  crossed  the  threshold  of  his  own  home ; 
but  not  to  find  rest  there,  for  the  doom  of  greatness  was  upon 
him. 


110    0]^  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.   B.n.;  oh.  ii. 


(^ 


CHAPTER  II. 

VIRGINIA   STATESMEN   LEAD   TOWARD   A   BETTER   UNION. 

1784:. 

Of  many  causes  promoting  union,  four  above  others  exer- 
cised a  steady  and  commanding  influence.  The  new  republic 
^^as  one  nation  must  have  power  to  regulate  its  foreign  com- 
^Inerce;  to  colonize  its  large •  domain ;  to  provide  an  adequate 
*!* revenue;  and  to  establish  justice  in  domestic  trade  by  prohib- 
iting the  separate  states  from  impairing  the  obligation  of  con- 
^^tracts.  Each  of  these  four  causes  was  of  vital  importance; 
but  the  necessity  for  regulating  commerce  gave  the  immediatp 
impulse  to  a  more  perfect  constitution.  Happily,  the  British 
order  in  council  of  the  second  of  July  1783  restricted  to  Brit- 
ish subjects  and  ships  the  carrying  of  American  produce  from 
American  ports  to  any  British  West  India  island,  and  the  car- 
rying of  the  produce  of  those  islands  to  any  port  in  America. 
"  This  proclamation,"  wrote  John  Adams  to  Secretary  Living- 
ston, "  is  issued  in  full  confidence  that  the  United  States  can- 
not agree  to  act  as  one  nation.  They  will  soon  see  the  neces- 
sity of  measures  to  counteract  their  enemies.  If  there  is  not 
sufficient  authority  to  draw  together  the  minds,  affections,  and 
forces  of  the  states  in  their  common  foreign  concerns,  we  shall 
be  the  sport  of  transatlantic  politicians,  who  hate  liberty  and 
every  country  that  enjoys  it."  * 

Letters  of  Adams  and  one  of  like  tenor  from  Franklin 
having  been  fully  considered,  congress,  on  the  twenty -ninth 
of  September  1783,  agreed  that  the  United  States  could  become 
respectable  only  by  more  energy  in  government ;  but,  as  usual, 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  vii.,  81,  100. 


1784.  TOWARD  A  BETTER   UNION.  HI 

they  only  referred  "  tlie  important  subject  under  deliberation  " 
to  a  special  committee,*  which,  having  Arthur  Lee  for  one 
of  its  members,  in  due  time  reported  that  "as  the  several 
states  are  sovereign  and  independent,  and  possess  the  power  of 
acting  as  may  to  them  seem  best,  congress  will  not  attempt  to 
point  out  the  path.  The  mode  for  joint  efforts  will  suggest 
itself  to  the  good  sense  of  America."  f 

The  states  could  not  successfully  defend  themselves  against 
the  policy  of  Great  Britain  by  separate  legislation,  because  it 
was  not  the  interest  of  any  one  of  them  to  exclude  British 
vessels  from  their  harbors  unless  the  like  measure  should  be 
adopted  by  every  other ;  and  a  union  of  thirteen  distinct  pow- 
ers would  encounter  the  very  difficulty  which  had  so  often 
proved  insuperable.  But,  while  every  increase  of  the  power 
of  congress  in  domestio  aifairs  roused  jealousies  between  the 
states,  the  selfish  design  of  a  foreign  government  to  repress 
their  industry  drew  them  together  against  a  common  adver- 
sary. 

The  complete  cession  of  the  I^orth-west  and  the  grant  of 
the  desired  impost  were  the  offerings  of  Yirginia  to  the  gen- 
eral welfare.  X  Simultaneously  her  legislature,  on  the  fourth 
of  December,  took  cognizance  of  the  aggressions  on  equal  com- 
merce. The  Virginians  owned  not  much  shipping,  and  had 
no  special  interest  in  the  West  India  trade ;  but  the  British 
prohibitory  policy  offended  their  pride  and  their  sense  of 
honor,  and,  as  in  the  war  they  had  looked  upon  "  union  as  the 
rock  of  their  political  salvation,"  so  they  again  "  rang  the  bell " 
to  call  the  other  states  to  council.  They  complained  of  "  a 
disposition  in  Great  Britain  to  gain  partial  advantages,  injurious 
to  the  rights  of  free  commerce  and  repugnant  to  the  principles 
of  reciprocal  interest  and  convenience  which  form  the  only 
permanent  foundation  of  friendly  intercourse ; "  and  on  the 
ninth  unanimously  consented  to  empower  congress  to  adopt 
the  most  effectual  mode  of  counteracting  restrictions  on  Ameri- 
can navigation  so  long  as  they  should  be  continued.*"     The 

*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  398-400. 

I  Reports  of  committees  on  increasing;  the  powers  of  congress,  p.  03.     MS. 
X  Joseph  Jones  to  Jefccrson,  21  and  29  December  1783. 

*  Journal  of  House  of  Delegates,  50 ;  Ilening,  xi.,  313. 


112    0^  THE  T7AT  TO  A  FEDERAL  COiTVEJSrTIOK  b.ii.;  cn.ii. 

governor,  by  direction,  communicated  the  act  to  the  executive 
authority  of  the  other  states,  requesting  their  immediate  adop- 
tion of  similar  measures ; "  *  and  he  sent  to  the  delegates  of 
his  own  state  in  congress  a  report  of  what  had  been  done. 
This  is  the  first  in  the  series  of  measures  through  which  Vir- 
ginia marshalled  the  United  States  on  their  way  to  a  better 
union. 

In  the  fourth  congress  JeSerson  carried  forward  the  work 
of  Madison  with  alacrity.  The  two  cherished  for  each  other 
the  closest  and  the  most  honorable  friendship,  agreeing  in 
efforts  to  bind  the  states  more  closely  in  all  that  related  to  the 
common  welfare.  In  their  copious  correspondence  they  opened 
their  minds  to  each  other  with  frankness  and  independence. 

The  delegates  of  Rhode  Island  insisted  that  the  connterac- 
tion  of  the  British  navigation  acts  must  be  intrusted  to  each 
separate  state;  but  they  stood  alone,  Roger  Sherman  voting 
against  them,  and  so  dividing  Connecticut.  Then  the  proposal 
of  the  committee  of  which  Jefferson  was  a  member  and  of 
which  all  but  Gerry  were  from  the  Sonth,  that  congress,  with 
the  assent  of  nine  states,  might  exercise  prohibitory  powers 
over  foreign  commerce  for  the  term  of  fifteen  years,  was 
adopted  without  opposition.! 

Keeping  in  mind  that,  while  the  articles  of  confederation 
did  not  directly  confer  on  congress  the  regulation  of  commerce 
by  enactments,  they  granted  the  amplest  authority  to  frame 
commercial  treaties,  Jefferson  prepared  a  plan  for  intercourse 
wdth  powers  of  Europe  from  Britain  to  the  Ottoman  Porte, 
and  with  the  Barbary  states.  His  draft  of  instructions  J  de- 
''scribed  "  the  United  States  as  one  nation  upon  the  principles 
of  the  federal  constitution."  *  In  a  document  of  the  preceding 
congress  mention  had  been  made  of  "the  federal  govern- 
ment," and  Rhode  Island  had  forthwith  moved  to  substitute 
the  word  union,  conceding  that  there  was  a  union  of  the  states, 
but  not  a  government ;  but  the  motion  had  been  supported  by 

*  Journal  of  House  of  Delegates  for  22  December  1783.     Governor  Harrison 
to  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  25  December  11S2.     MS. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  392,  393. 

X  Jefferson  to  John  Q.  Adams,  30  March  1826.     Jefferson,  vii.,  436. 

*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  453. 


1784.  TOWARD  A  BETTER  UNIOK  113 

no  other  state,  and  by  no  individuals  outside  of  Rhode  Island 
except  Hoi  ten  and  Arthur  Lee.  This  time  Sherman  and  his 
colleague,  James  Wadsworth,  placed  Connecticut  by  the  side 
of  Rhode  Island.  They  were  joined  only  by  Arthur  Lee, 
and  congress,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  March,  adopting  the 
words  of  Jeiferson,  by  the  vote  of  eight  states  to  two,  of  nine- 
teen individuals  to  five,  decided  that  in  treaties  and  all  cases 
arising  under  them  the  United  States  form  "  one  nation."  '^ 

On  the  principles  according  to  which  commercial  treaties 
should  be  framed  America  was  unanimous.  In  October  1783 
congress  had  proposed  the  most  perfect  equality  and  reciproci- 
ty, f  Jefferson,  while  he  would  accept  a  system  of  reciproci- 
ty, reported  as  the  choice  of  America  that  there  should  be 
no  navigation  laws ;  no  distinction  between  metropolitan  and 
colonial  ports ;  an  equal  right  for  each  party  to  carry  its  own 
products  in  its  own  ships  into  all  ports  of  the  other  and  to 
take  away  its  products,  freely  if  possible,  if  not,  paying  no 
other  duties  than  are  paid  by  the  most  favored  nation.  In 
time  of  war  there  should  be  an  abandonment  of  privateering ; 
the  least  possible  interference  with  industry  on  land ;  the  in- 
violability of  fishermen ;  the  strictest  limitation  of  contraband ; 
free  commerce  between  neutrals  and  belligerents  in  articles  not 
contraband;  no  paper  blockades;  in  short,  free  trade  and  a 
humane  international  code.  These  instructions  congress  ac- 
cepted, and,  to  give  them  effect,  Adams,  Franklin,  and  Jeffer- 
son were,  on  the  seventh  of  May,  commissioned  for  two  years, 
with  the  consent  of  any  two  of  them,  to  negotiate  treaties  of 
ten  or  fifteen  years'  duration.  j(. 

The  foreign  commercial  system  of  the  nation  was  to  be 
blended  with  the  domestic  intercourse  of  the  states.  High- 
ways by  water  and  land  from  Yirginia  to  the  West  would  ad- 
vance its  welfare  and  strengthen  the  union.  Jefferson  opened 
the  subject  to  Madison,*  who,  in  reply,  explained  the  necessity 
of  a  mutual  appointment  of  commissioners  by  Maryland  and 
Yirginia  for  regulating  the  navigation  of  the  Potomac.     "  The 

*  Secret  Journals  of  Congress  for  26  March  1784,  iii.,  452-454. 
•j-  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  412,  413. 

if.  Secret  Journals  of  Congress,  ill.,  484,  485,  and  491-499. 

*  Jefferson  to  Madison,  Annapolis,  20  February  1784. 

VOL.    YI. — 8 


114    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION",   s.n.;  on.ii. 

good  humor  into  whicli  the  cession  of  the  back  lands  must 
have  put  Maryland  forms  an  apt  crisis  for  negotiations."  * 

In  March  178i  Jefferson  cautiously  introduced  the  subject 
to  Washington,f  and  then  wrote  more  urgently :  "  Your  fu- 
ture time  and  wishes  are  sacred  in  my  eye ;  but,  if  the  super- 
intendence of  this  work  would  be  only  a  dignified  amusement 
to  you,  what  a  monument  of  your  retirement  would  follow  that 
of  your  public  life ! "  :j: 

Washington  "  was  very  happy  that  a  man  of  dissernment 
and  hberality  like  Jefferson  thought  as  he  did."  More  than 
ten  years  before  he  had  been  a  principal  mover  of  a  bill  for 
the  extension  of  navigation  from  tide-water  to  Will's  creek. 
"  To  get  the  business  in  motion,"  he  writes,  "  I  was  obliged  to 
comprehend  James  river.  The  plan  was  in  a  tolerably  good 
train  when  I  set  out  for  Cambridge  in  1775,  and  would  have 
been  in  an  excellent  way  had  it  not  met  with  difficulties  in  the 
Maryland  assembly.  Not  a  moment  ought  to  be  lost  in  recom- 
mencing this  business."  * 

He  too,  like  Madison,  advised  concert  with  the  men  of 
Maryland.  Conforming  to  their  advice,  Jefferson  conferred 
with  Thomas  Stone,  then  one  of  the  Maryland  delegates  in 
congress,  and  undertook  by  letters  to  originate  the  subject  in 
the  legislature  of  Virginia.  || 

Before  the  end  of  June  the  two  houses  unanimously  re- 
quested the  executive  to  procure  a  statue  of  Washington,  to  be 
of  the  finest  marble  and  best  workmanship,  with  this  inscrip- 
tion on  its  pedestal : 

"  The  general  assembly  of  the  commonwealth  of  Virginia 
have  caused  this  statue  to  be  erected  as  a  monument  of  affection 
and  gratitude  to  George  Washington,  who,  to  the  endowments 
of  the  hero  uniting  the  virtues  of  the  patriot,  and  exerting 
both  in  establishing  the  liberties  of  his  country,  has  rendered 
his  name  dear  to  his  fellow-citizens,  and  given  the  world  an 
immortal  example  of  true  glory."  ^ 

*  Madison  to  Jefferson,  16  March  1784.     Madison,  i.,  74. 
f  Jefferson  to  Washington,  6  March  1784. 

:]:  Jefferson  to  Washington,  15  :^rarch  1784.     Letters  to  W.,  iv.,  62-66. 

*  Washington  to  Jefferson,  29  March  1784.     Sparks,  ix.,  81,  32. 

I  Jefferson  to  Madison,  25  April  1784.     Partly  printed  in  Rives,  i.,  560. 
^  Heniug,  xi.,  552. 


1784.  TOWARD  A  BETTER  UNION.  115 

The  vote,  emanating  from  the  affections  of  the  people  of 
Yirginia,  marks  his  mastery  over  the  heart  of  his  native  state. 
That  mastery  he  always  used  to  promote  the  formation  of 
a  national  constitution.  He  had  hardly  reached  home  from 
the  war  when  he  poured  out  his  inmost  thoughts  to  Harrison, 
the  doubting  governor  of  his  commonwealth : 

"  The  prospect  before  us  is  fair ;  I  believe  all  things  will 
come  right  at  last ;  but  the  disinclination  of  the  states  to  yield 
competent  powers  to  congress  for  the  federal  government  will, 
if  there  is  not  a  change  in  the  system,  be  our  downfall  as  a 
nation.  This  is  as  clear  to  me  as  A,  B,  C.  We  have  arrived 
at  peace  and  independency  to  very  little  purpose,  if  we  cannot 
conquer  our  own  prejudices.  The  powers  of  Earope  begin  to 
see  this,  and  our  newly  acquired  friends,  the  British,  are  al- 
ready and  professedly  acting  upon  this  ground ;  and  wisely  too, 
if  we  are  determined  to  persevere  in  our  folly.  They  know  that 
individual  opposition  to  their  measures  is  futile,  and  boast  that 
we  are  not  sufficiently  united  as  a  nation  to  give  a  general  one. 
Is  not  the  indignity  of  this  declaration,  in  the  very  act  of  peace- 
making and  conciliation,  sufficient  to  stimulate/ us  to  vest  ade- 
quate powers  in  the  sovereign  of  these  United  States  ? 

"  An  extension  of  federal  powers  would  make  us  one  of  the 
most  wealthy,  happy,  respectable  and  powerful  nations  that 
ever  inhabited  the  terrestrial  globe.  Without  them,  we  shall 
soon  be  everything  which  is  the  direct  reverse.  I  predict  the 
worst  consequences  from  a  half-starved,  limping  government, 
always  moving  upon  crutches  and  tottering  at  every  step."  ^ 

The  immensity  of  the  ungranted  public  domain  which  had 
passed  from  the  English  crown  to  the  American  people  invited 
them  to  establish  a  continental  empire  of  republics.  Lines  of 
communication  with  the  western  country  implied  its  coloniza- 
tion. In  the  war,  Jefferson,  as  a  member  of  the  legislature, 
had  promoted  the  expedition  by  which  Yirginia  conquered  the 
region  north-west  of  the  Ohio ;  as  governor  he  had  taken  part 
in  its  cession  to  the  United  States.  The  cession  had  included 
the  demand  of  a  guarantee  to  Yirginia  of  the  remainder  of  its 
territory.  This  the  United  States  had  refused,  and  Yirginia 
receded  from  the  demand.     On  the  iirst  day  of  March  1784, 

*  Washington  to  Earrison,  18  January  1*784.     Sparks,  ix.,  12  and  13. 


IIG    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONYENTIOK   b.ii.;  ch.  ii. 

Jefferson,  in  congress,  vnth  his  colleagues,  Hardy,  Arthur  Lee, 
and  James  Monroe,  in  conformity  with  full  powers  from  their 
commonwealth,  signed,  sealed,  and  delivered  a  deed  by  which, 
with  some  reservation  of  land,  they  ceded  to  the  United  States 
all  claim  to  the  territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio.  On  that  same 
day,  before  the  deed  could  be  recorded  and  enrolled  among  the 
acts  of  the  United  States,  Jefferson,  as  chairman  of  a  commit- 
tee, presented  a  plan  for  the  temporary  government  of  the 
western  territory  from  the  southern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  in  the  latitude  of  thirty-one  degrees  to  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods.  It  is  still  preserved  in  the  national  archives  in  his 
own  handwriting,  and  is  as  completely  his  own  work  as  the 
declaration  of  independence. 

He  pressed  upon  Virginia  to  establish  the  meridian  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Kanawha  as  its  western  boundary,  and  to  cede 
all  beyond  to  the  United  States.  To  Madison  he  wrote :  "  For 
God's  sake,  push  this  at  the  next  session  of  assembly.  We  hope 
]!!Torth  Carohna  will  cede  all  beyond  the  same  meridian,"  *  his 
object  being  to  obtain  cessions  to  the  United  States  of  all 
southern  territory  west  of  the  meridian  of  the  Kanawha. 

In  dividing  all  the  country  north-west  of  the  Ohio  into  ton 
states,  Jefferson  was  controlled  by  an  act  of  congress  of  1Y80 
which  was  incorporated  into  the  cession  of  Virginia.  'No  land 
was  to  be  taken  up  till  it  should  have  been  purchased  from  the 
Indian  proprietors  and  offered  for  sale  by  the  United  States. 
In  each  incipient  state  no  property  qualification  was  required 
either  of  the  electors  or  the  elected ;  it  was  enough  for  them  to 
be  free  men,  resident,  and  of  full  age.  Under  the  authority  of 
congress,  and  following  the  precedent  of  any  one  of  the  states, 
the  settlers  were  to  establish  a  temporary  government ;  when 
they  should  have  increased  to  twenty  thousand,  they  might  in- 
stitute a  permanent  government,  with  a  member  in  congress, 
having  a  right  to  debate  but  not  to  vote  ;  and,  when  they  should 
be  equal  in  number  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  least  populous 
state,  their  delegates,  with  the  consent  of  nine  states,  as  re- 
quired by  the  confederation,  were  to  be  admitted  into  the  con- 
gress of  the  United  States  on  an  equal  footing. 

The  ordinance  contained  five  other  articles :  The  new  states 

*  Jefferson  to  Madison,  20  February  1'784. 


1784.  TOWARD  A  BETTER  UNION.  117 

shall  remain  forever  a  part  of  tlie  United  States  of  America ; 
they  shall  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  confederation  as  the 
original  states ;  they  shall  pay  their  apportionment  of  the  fed- 
eral debts ;  they  shall  in  their  governments  uphold  republican 
forms ;  and  after  the  year  1800  of  the  Christian  era  there  shall 
be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  any  of  them. 

At  that  time  slavery  prevailed  throughout  much  more  than 
haK  the  lands  of  Europe.  Jefferson,  following  an  impulse  from 
his  own  mind,  designed  by  his  ordinance  to  establish  from  end 
to  end  of  the  whole  country  a  north  and  south  line,  at  which 
the  westward  extension  of  slavery  should  be  stayed  by  an  im- 
passable bound.  Of  the  men  held  in  bondage  beyond  that  line 
he  did  not  propose  the  instant  emancipation ;  but  slavery  was 
to  be  rung  out  with  the  departing  century,  so  that  in  all  the 
western  territory,  whether  held  in  1784  by  Georgia,  !North 
Carolina,  Yirginia,  or  the  United  States,  the  sun  of  the  new 
century  might  dawn  on  no  slave. 

To  make  the  decree  irrevocable,  he  further  proposed  that 
all  the  articles  should  form  a  charter  of  compact,  to  be  executed 
in  congress  under  the  seal  of  the  United  States,  and  to  stand 
as  fundamental  constitutions  between  the  thirteen  original 
states  and  the  new  states  to  be  erected  under  the  ordinance. 

The  design  of  Jefferson  marks  an  era  in  the  history  of  uni- 
versal freedom.  For  the  moment  more  was  attempted  than 
could  be  accompHshed.  North  Carolina,  in  the  following  June, 
made  a  cession  of  all  her  western  lands,  but  soon  revoked  it ; 
and  Yirginia  did  not  release  Kentucky  till  it  became  a  state  of 
the  union.  Moreover,  the  sixteen  years  during  which  slavery 
was  to  have  a  respite  might  nurse  it  into  such  strength  that  at 
their  end  it  would  be  able  to  defy  or  reverse  the  ordinance. 

Exactly  on  the  ninth  anniversary  of  the  fight  at  Concord 
and  Lexington,  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight  of  l^orth  Carolina, 
seconded  by  Jacob  Eead  of  South  Carolina,  moved  "  to  strike 
out"  the  fifth  article.  The  presiding  officer,  following  the 
rule  of  the  time,  put  the  question :  "  Shall  the  words  stand  ? " 
Seven  states,  and  seven  only,  were  needed  to  carry  the  affirm- 
ative. Let  Jefferson,  who  did  not  refrain  from  describing 
Spaight  as  "  a  young  fool,"  relate  what  followed.  "  The  clause 
was  lost  by  an  individual  vote  only.     Ten  states  were  present. 


118    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTIOiT.  b.ii.;  oh.h. 

The  four  eastern  states,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania  were  for 
the  clause ;  Jersey  would  have  been  for  it,  but  there  were  but 
two  members,  one  of  whom  was  sick  in  his  chambers.  South 
Carolina,  Maryland,  and  J  Yirgiaia  J  voted  against  it.  North  ' 
Carolina  was  divided,  as  w^ould  have  been  Yirginia,  had  not 
one  of  its  delegates  been  sick  in  bed."  *  The  absent  Yirginian 
was  Monroe,  who  for  himself  has  left  no  evidence  of  such  an 
intention,  and  who  was  again  absent  when  in  the  following 
year  the  question  was  revived.  For  North  Carolina,  the  vote 
of  Spaight  was  neutralized  by  "VYilliamson. 

Six  states  against  three,  sixteen  men  against  seven,  pro- 
scribed slavery.  Jefferson  bore  witness  against  it  all  his  life 
long.  Wythe  and  himself,  as  commissioners  to  codify  the  laws 
of  Yirginia,  had  provided  for  gradual  emancipation.  When, 
in  1785,  the  legislature  refused  to  consider  tlie  proposal,  Jeffer- 
son wrote :  "  We  must  hope  that  an  overruling  Providence  is 
preparing  the  deliverance  of  these  our  suffering  brethren."  f 
In  1T8G,  narrating  the  loss  of  the  clause  against  slavery  in  the 
ordinance  of  1784,  he  said :  "  The  voice  of  a  single  individual 
would  have  prevented  this  abominable  crime  ;  heaven  will  not 
always  be  silent ;  tlie  friends  to  tiie  rights  of  human  nature  will 
in  the  end  prevail."  :j: 

To  friends  who  visited  him  in  the  last  period  of  his  life 
he  delighted  to  renew  these  aspirations  of  his  earlier  years.* 
In  a  letter  written  just  forty-hve  days  before  his  death  he 
refers  to  the  ordinance  of  1784,  saying:  " My  sentiments  have 
been  forty  years  before  the  public ;  although  I  shall  not  live 
to  see  them  consummated,  they  will  not  die  with  me ;  but, 
hving  or  dying,  they  will  ever  be  in  my  most  fervent  prayer."  1 

On  the  twenty-third  of  April  the  ordinance  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  north-western  territory,  shorn  of  its  proscription 
of  slavery,  was  adopted,  and  remained  in  force  for  three  years. 
On  the  7th  of  May,  Jefferson  reported  an  ordinance  for  ascer- 
taining the  mode  of  locating  and  disposing  of  the  public  lands. 
The  continental  domain,  when  purchased  of  the  Indians,  was 

*  Jefferson  to  Madison,  25  April  1784. 

f  Jefferson,  ix.,  279.  1;.  Ibid.,  276. 

*  Oral  communication  from  William  Campbell  Preston  of  South  Carolina. 
H  Jefferson  to  James  Hcaton,  20  May  1826. 


1784.  TOWARD  A  BETTER  UNIOK  119 

to  be  divided  by  the  surveyors  into  townships  of  ten  geograpM- 
cal  miles  square,  the  townships  into  hundreds  of  one  mile 
square,  and  with  such  precautions  that  the  wilderness  could  be 
mapped  out  into  ranges  of  lots  so  exactly  as  to  preclude  uncer- 
tainty of  title.  As  to  inheritance,  the  words  of  the  ordinance 
were :  "  The  lands  therein  shall  pass  in  descent  and  dower  ac- 
cording to  the  customs  known  in  the  common  law  by  the  name 
of  gavelkind."  *  Upon  this  ordinance  of  Jefferson,  most 
thoughtfully  prepared  and  written  wholly  by  his  own  hand,  no 
final  vote  was  taken. 

Congress  had  already  decided  to  establish  a  mint.  For  the 
American  coinage,  Eobert  and  Gouverneur  Morris  proposed 
the  decimal  system  of  computation,  with  silver  as  the  only 
metallic  money,  and  the  fourteen  hundred  and  fortieth  part  of 
a  Spanish  piece  of  eight  reals,  or,  as  the  Americans  called  it, 
the  dollar,  as  the  unit  of  the  currency.  Jefierson  chose  the 
dollar,  which  circulated  freely  in  every  part  of  the  American 
continent,  as  the  money  unit  for  computation ;  and  the  sub- 
division of  the  dollar  into  a  tenth,  a  hundredth,  and  a  thou- 
sandth part.  For  coinage,  he  proposed  a  gold  coin  of  ten  dol- 
lars ;  silver  coins  of  one  dollar  and  of  one  tenth  of  a  dollar  ;  and 
copper  coins  of  one  hundredth  part  cf  a  dollar,  f  This  system 
steadily  grew  in  favor ;  and,  in  1786,  was  established  by  con- 
gress without  a  negative  vote. :[: 

The  total  cost  of  the  war,  from  the  first  blood  shed  at  Lex- 
ington to  the  general  orders  of  Washington  in  April  1783, 
proclaiming  peace,  was  reckoned  by  Jefferson  *  at  one  hundred 
and  forty  millions  of  dollars.  Congress,  before  the  formation 
of  the  confederacy,  had  emitted  paper  money  to  the  amount  of 
two  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  which  at  the  time  of  its  emis- 
sion might,  as  he  thought,  have  had  the  value  of  thirty-six 
millions  of  silver  dollars  ;  the  value  of  the  masses  of  paper 
emitted  by  the  several  states  at  various  stages  of  the  war  he 
estimated  at  thirty-six  millions  more.  This  estimate  of  the 
values  of  the  paper  money  rests  in  part  upon  conjecture,  and 

*  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  xxx.,  59.   MS. 

f  Jefferson,  i.,  54.     Notes  on  the  establishment  of  a  money  unit  and  of  a  coin, 
age  for  the  United  States.     Ibid.,  162-174. 

X  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  376,  for  8  August  1786.  *  Jefferson,  ix.,  260. 


120    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,   b.ii.;  oh.ii. 

the  materials  for  correcting  it  witli  accuracy,  especially  as  it  re- 
gards the  issues  of  the  states,  are  wanting.  The  remaining  cost 
of  the  war,  or  sixty-eight  millions  of  dollars,  with  the  exception 
of  about  one  and  a  half  million  paid  on  requisition  by  the  sev- 
eral states,  existed  on  the  first  of  January  1784,  in  the  form  of 
debts  in  Europe  to  the  amount  of  nearly  eight  millions  of  dol- 
lars ;  of  debts  due  to  the  several  classes  of  domestic  creditors ; 
and  of  debts  due  to  states  for  advances  on  the  common  account. 
The  value  of  the  paper  money  issued  by  congress  had  perished 
as  it  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  and  its  circulation  had  ceased. 

In  preparing  the  appropriations  for  the  coming  year,  con- 
gress was  met  at  the  threshold  by  an  unforeseen  difiiculty. 
Bills  of  Morris  on  Holland,  that  were  protested  for  non-accept- 
ance, would  amount,  with  damages  on  protest  for  non-accept- 
ance, to  six  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  dollars.  To  save 
the  honor  of  the  country,  this  sum  was  demanded  of  the  sepa- 
rate states  in  a  circular  letter  drawn  by  Jefferson.  But,  mean- 
time, John  Adams,  in  Amsterdam,  manfully  struggled  to  meet 
the  drafts,  and,  by  combining  the  allurement  of  a  lottery  with 
that  of  a  very  profitable  loan,  he  succeeded. 

The  court  of  France,  with  delicacy  and  generosity,  of  its  own 
motion  released  the  United  States  from  the  paj^ment  of  interest 
on  their  obligations  during  the  war  and  for  the  first  period  of 
peace ;  and  they  on  their  part  by  formal  treaty  bound  them- 
selves to  the  payment  of  interest  as  it  should  accrue  from  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1784. 

For  that  year  the  sum  required  for  the  several  branches  of 
the  public  service  was  estimated  at  about  four  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  ;  for  the  interest  on  the  foreign  debt, 
nearly  four  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  the  balance  of  interest 
and  the  interest  on  the  domestic  debt,  about  six  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  dollars ;  the  deficit  of  the  last  two  years,  one 
million ;  other  arrears  connected  with  the  debt,  nearly  one 
million  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  :  in  all,  about  four  mill- 
ions. This  was  a  greater  sum  than  could  be  asked  for.  In- 
stead of  making  new  requisitions,  Jefferson  credited  all  federal 
payments  of  the  states  to  the  requisition  of  eight  millions  of 
dollars  in  the  first  year  of  the  confederacy.  One  half  of  that 
requisition  was  remitted ;  of  the  other,  three  states  had  paid 


1784.  TOWARD  A  BETTER   UNION.  121 

nothing,  tlie  rest  had  paid  less  than  a  million  and  a  half ;  a 
balance  would  remain  oi  nearly  two  millions  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars ;  and  of  this  balance  a  requisition  was  made 
on  each  of  the  states  for  its  just  proportion.  The  apportion- 
ment, if  collected  within  the  year,  would  defray  the  expenses 
of  all  the  departments  of  the  general  government  and  the  in- 
terest on  the  foreign  and  domestic  loans,  leaving  only  some 
part  of  domestic  arrears  to  be  provided  for  at  a  later  day. 
Could  this  system  be  carried  into  effect,  the  credit  of  the 
government  would  be  established. 

Madison  had  acceded  to  the  wishes  of  his  county,  that  he 
should  be  one  of  its  representatives  in  the  legislature,  believing 
that  he  might  there  best  awaken  Yirginia  to  the  glory  of  tak- 
ing the  lead  in  the  rescue  of  the  union  and  the  blessings 
staked  on  union  from  an  impending  catastrophe."^  Jefferson 
had  kept  him  thoroughly  informed  of  the  movement  for  bring- 
ing order  into  the  public  finances.  At  the  instigation  of 
Madison,  Philip  Mazzei,  an  Italian,  then  in  quest  of  a  con- 
sular appointment  in  Europe,!  V^^^  ^  ^^^^  *^  Patrick  Henry, 
"  the  great  leader  who  had  been  violently  opposed  to  every 
idea  of  increasing  the  power  of  congress."  j^  On  his  return, 
Mazzei  reported  that  the  present  politics  of  Henry  compre- 
hended very  fnendly  views  toward  the  confederacy,  and  a 
support  of  the  payment  of  British  debts.* 

At  Pichmond,  on  the  fourteenth  of  May,  before  the  assem- 
bly proceeded  to  active  business,  Henry  sought  a  conference 
with  Madison  and  Jones,  and  declared  to  them  that  "  a  bold 
example  set  by  Yirginia  would  have  infiuence  on  the  other 
states ; "  "he  saw  ruin  inevitable  unless  something  was  done 
to  give  congress  a  compulsory  process  on  delinquent  states." 
This  conviction,  he  said,  was  his  only  inducement  for  coming 
into  the  present  assembly.  It  was  agreed  that  Jones  and 
Madison  should  sketch  some  plan  for  giving  greater  power  to 
the  federal  government,  and  Henry  promised  to  sustain  it  on 
the  floor.  A  majority  of  the  assembly  were  new  members, 
composed  of  young  men  and  officers  of  the  late  army,  so  that 

*  Gilpin,  693,  694 ;  Elliot,  113.  f  Jefferson  to  Madison,  16  March  1784. 
X  Edward  Bancroft  to  William  Frazer,  28  May  1784. 

*  Madison  to  Jefferson,  23  April  17S4.     Madison,  i.,  73. 


122    01^  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  B.n.;  CH.n. 

new  measures  were  expected.  Great  hopes  were  formed  of 
Madison,  and  those  who  knew  him  best  were  sure  that  he 
would  not  disappoint  the  most  sanguine  expectations.* 

Virginia  passed  an  act  empowering  congress,  for  anj  term 
not  exceeding  fifteen  years,  to  prohibit  the  importation  or  ex- 
portation of  goods  to  or  from  that  state  in  vessels  belonging  to 
subjects  of  powers  with  whom  the  United  States  had  no  com- 
mercial treaty,  f  They  consented  that  the  contributions  of 
the  state  to  the  general  treasury  should  be  in  proportion  to 
the  population,  counting  three  fifths  of  the  slaves.  All  appre- 
hension of  danger  from  conceding  a  reveime  to  the  confeder- 
acy seemed  to  have  passed  away ;  and  it  was  agreed  that,  pend- 
ing the  acceptance  of  the  amendment  to  the  constitution,  any 
apportionment  of  the  requisitions  dh^ected  by  congress  for  the 
purpose  of  discharging  the  national  debt  and  the  expenses  of 
the  national  government  ought  to  be  complied  with.  It  was 
further  resolved  that  the  accounts  subsisting  between  the  United 
States  and  individual  states  should  be  settled,  and  that  then 
the  balance  due  ought  to  be  enforced,  if  necessary,  by  distress 
on  the  property  of  defaulting  states  or  of  their  citizens.  These 
resolutions  passed  the  legislature  without  a  division.  J  It  re- 
mained to  see  what  effect  the  measures  of  Virginia  would  have 
on  the  other  twelve  states  and  on  herself. 

Experience  had  proved  the  impossibility  of  keeping  to- 
gether a  sufficient  representation  of  the  states  in  congress.  It 
began  to  be  thought  better  to  hold  but  a  short  and  active  an- 
nual session  of  the  national  congress  with  compulsory  attend- 
ance of  its  members,  and  appoint  commissioners  of  the  states 
to  conduct  executive  business  for  the  rest  of  the  year.  This 
proposition  was  one  of  the  last  which  Jefferson  assisted  to 
carry  through.  He  had  wished  to  visit  "Washington  before 
his  voyage ;  but,  armed  with  at  least  one-and-twenty  commis- 
sions for  himself  and  his  two  associates  to  negotiate  treaties 
with  foreign  powers,  he  was   obliged  to  repair  to  Boston, 

*  William  Short  to  T.  Jefferson,  14  May  178-1;  Madison  to  Jefferson,  15  May 
1784,  Madison,  i.,  SO;  Edward  Bancroft  to  William  Frazer,  28  May  1784.  In 
the  letter  of  Short  to  Jefferson,  the  date  is  probably  an  error  for  May  15.  Seo 
Madison,  i.,  80,  "  last  evening." 

f  Ilening,  xi.,  888.  X  Journal  of  the  Committee  of  the  States,  p.  V. 


1784:.  TOWARD  A  BETTER  UNIOK  123 

where,  after  "  experiencing  in  the  highest  degree  its  hospital- 
ity and  civihties,"  '^  he  embarked  for  France  on  the  fifth  of 
July,  full  of  hope  that  the  attempt  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  com- 
merce with  Great  Britain  would  meet  with  success,  f  Before 
leaving  the  country  he  wrote  to  Madison :  "  The  best  effects 
are  produced  by  sending  our  young  statesmen  to  congress. 
Here  tliey  see  the  affairs  of  tlie  confederacy  from  a  high 
ground ;  they  learn  the  importance  of  the  imion,  and  befriend 
federal  measures  when  they  return."  :j: 

The  committee  of  states  came  together  on  the  fourth  of 
June.  Four  states  never  attended ;  and,  as  the  assent  of  nine 
was  required  to  carry  any  proposition  except  adjournment,  the 
absence  or  the  negative  of  one  state  stopped  all  proceedings.  A 
difference  occurring  on  the  eleventh  of  August,  the  members 
from  three  ^ew  England  states  went  home ;  the  remaining  six 
states  met  irregularly  till  the  nineteenth  of  that  month ;  and 
then,  from  inability  to  do  any  manner  of  business,  they  with- 
drew. The  United  States  of  America  were  left  without  any 
visible  representation  whatever.  The  chief  benefit  from  the 
experiment  was  to  establish  in  the  minds  of  Americans  the 
necessity  of  vesting  the  executive  power,  not  in  a  body  of 
men,  but,  as  Jefferson  phrased  it,  in  a  single  arbiter. 

This  was  the  state  of  the  government  when,  on  the  first 
of  November,  Bobert  Morris  retired  from  his  ofBce  as  super- 
intendent of  the  finances  of  the  United  States.  He  had  con- 
ciliated the  support  of  the  moneyed  men  at  home.*  His  bank 
of  ]N"orth  America,  necessarily  of  little  advantage  to  the  United 
States,  proved  highly  remunerative  to  its  stockholders ;  ||  the 
bankruptcy  of  the  nation  could  have  been  prevented  only  by 
the  nation  itself.  Congress  passed  an  act  that  for  the  future 
no  person,  appointed  a  commissioner  of  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States,  should  be  permitted  to  be  engaged,  either  di- 

*  Jefferson  to  Gcrr}^,  2  July  1784.     Austin's  Life  of  Gerry,  i.,  55. 

f  Information  from  Edward  Bancroft,  26  August  1784. 

X  Jefferson  to  Madison,  25  April  1784.  *  Hamilton,  i.,  316,  317. 

II  The  dividend  for  the  first  half  year  of  the  bank  was  four  and  a  half  per 
cent ;  for  the  second,  four  and  one  fourth ;  for  the  third,  six  and  one  half ;  for 
the  fourth,  eight ;  for  the  fifth,  a  little  more  than  nine  and  a  half  per  cent.  Official 
report  in  Pennsylvania  Packet  for  6  July  1782 ;  7  January  1783  ;  8  July  1783 ; 
6  January  1784;  8  July  1784. 


124:    OK  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION   b.ii.;  ch.h. 

rectly  or  indirectly,  in  any  trade  or  commerce  whatsoever.* 
Before  retiring,  Morris  announced  to  the  representative  of 
France  in  America  that  he  could  not  pay  the  interest  on  the 
Dutch  loan  of  ten  million  livres  for  which  France  was  the 
guarantee,  f  a  default  which  deeply  injured  the  reputation  of 
the  United  States  in  Paris.  :j:  He  could  still  less  provide  for 
paying  the  interest  for  1784  on  the  direct  debt  to  France. 

The  members  of  the  lifth  congress  arrived  so  slowly  at 
Trenton  that  Marbois,  who  was  charged  with  French  affairs, 
on  the  twentieth  of  November  reported  what  at  the  moment 
was  true :  "  There  is  in  America  no  general  government,  neither 
congress,  nor  president,  nor  head  of  any  one  administrative 
department."  ^  Six  days  later,  while  there  was  still  no  quorum 
in  congress,  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  a  delegate  from  Virginia, 
wrote  to  Madison :  "  It  is  by  many  here  suggested,  as  a  very 
necessary  step  for  congress  to  take,  the  calling  on  the  states 
to  form  a  convention  for  the  sole  purpose  of  revising  the  con- 
federation, so  far  as  to  enable  congress  to  execute  with  more 
energy,  effect,  and  vigor  the  powers  assigned  to  it  than  it  ap- 
pears by  experience  that  they  can  do  under  the  present  state 
of  things."  In  a  letter  of  the  same  date  Mercer  said :  "  There 
will  be  a  motion  made  early  in  the  ensuing  congress  for  such 
a  convention."  1  Madison,  who  knew  the  heart  of  his  corre- 
spondents, answered  Lee  firmly  and  yet  warily  :  "  The  union 
of  the  states  is  essential  to  their  safety  against  foreign  danger 
and  internal  contention ;  the  perpetuity  and  efficacy  of  the 
present  system  cannot  be  confided  in ;  the  question,  therefore, 
is,  in  what  mode  and  at  what  moment  the  experiment  for  sup- 
plying the  defects  ought  to  be  made."  ^ 

^'  The  American  confederation,"  so  thought  the  French 
minister  at  Yersailles,  "  has  a  strong  tendency  to  dissolution ; 
it  is  well  that  on  this  point  we  have  neither  obligations  to 
fulfil  nor  any  interest  to  care  for."  () 

*  Journals  of  Congress  for  28  May  1'784. 

f  Robert  Morris  to  Marbois,  IV  August  11S4:.     Diplomatic  Correspondence, 
xii.,  494.  j^  Edward  Bancroft  to  Lord  Carmarthen,  Paris,  8  December  1*784. 

*  Marbois  to  Rayneval,  20  November  1*784. 

II  J.  F.  Mercer  to  Madison,  26  November  1784.  ^  Gilpin,  101,  708. 

{)  To  Marbois,  Versailles,  14  December  1784. 


1784.  THE  WEST.  125 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE   WEST. 

1784-1785. 

The  desire  to  hold  and  to  people  the  great  western  domain 
mingled  with  every  effort  for  imparting  greater  energy  to  the 
union.  In  that  happy  region  each  state  saw  the  means  of 
granting  lands  to  its  soldiers  of  the  revolution  and  a  possession, 
of  inestimable  promise.  Washington  took  up  the  office  of 
securing  the  national  allegiance  of  the  transmontane  woodsmen 
by  improving  the  channels  of  communication  with  the  states 
on  the  Atlantic.  For  that  purpose,  more  than  to  look  after 
lands  of  his  own,  he,  on  the  first  day  of  September,  began  a 
tour  to  the  westward  to  make  an  examination  of  the  portages 
between  the  nearest  navigable  branches  of  the  Potomac  and 
James  river  on  the  one  side  and  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Kanawha 
on  the  other.  Wherever  he  came,  he  sought  and  closely  ques- 
tioned the  men  famed  for  personal  observation  of  the  streams 
and  paths  on  each  side  of  the  AUeghanies. 

From  Fort  Cumberland  he  took  the  usual  road  over  the 
mountains  to  the  valley  of  the  Yohogany,*  and  studied  closely 
the  branches  of  that  stream.  The  country  between  the  Little 
Kanawha  and  the  branches  of  the  James  river  being  at  that 
moment  infested  with  hostile  Indians,  he  returned  through  the 
houseless  solitude  between  affluents  of  the  Cheat  river  and  of 

*  Yohogany  is  the  "  phoaetical "  mode  of  spelling  for  yOugHIOgany,  as  the 
English  wrote  the  Indian  name ;  the  French,  discarding  the  gutturals,  wrote  Ohio. 
So  at  the  North-east  the  French  dropped  the  first  two  syllables  of  Passam-Aquoddy, 
and  made  of  the  last  three  Acadie.  The  name  Belle  Riviere  is  a  translation  of 
Allegh-any. 


126    0^  THE  ^AY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  oh.hi. 

the  Potomac.  As  lie  traced  tlie  way  for  commerce  over  that 
\vild  region  he  was  compelled  to  pass  a  night  on  a  rough  moun- 
tain-side in  a  pouring  rain,  with  no  companion  but  a  servant 
and  no  protection  but  his  cloak ;  one  day  he  was  without  food ; 
sometimes  he  could  find  no  path  except  the  track  of  buffaloes ; 
and  in  unceasing  showers  his  ride  through  the  close  bushes 
seemed  to  him  little  better  than  the  swimming  of  rivulets.* 

Eeaching  home  after  an  absence  of  thirty-three  days,  he 
declared  himself  pleased  with  the  results  of  his  tour.  Com- 
bining his  observations  with  the  reminiscences  of  his  youthful 
mission  to  the  French  in  the  heart  of  Ohio,  he  sketched  in  his 
mind  a  system  of  internal  communication  of  the  Potomac  with 
the  Ohio ;  of  an  affluent  of  the  Ohio  with  the  Cuyahoga ;  and 
so  from  the  site  of  Cleveland  to  Detroit,  and  onward  to  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods. 

Six  days  after  his  return  he  sent  a  most  able  report  to 
Harrison,  then  governor  of  Yirginia.  "We  should  do  our 
part  toward  opening  the  communication  for  the  fur  and  peltry 
trade  of  the  lakes,"  such  were  his  words,  "  and  for  the  produce 
of  the  country,  which  will  be  settled  faster  than  any  other 
ever  was,  or  aiiy  one  would  imagine.  But  there  is  a  political 
consideration  for  so  doing  which  is  of  still  greater  importance. 

"  I  need  not  remark  to  you,  sir,  that  the  flanks  and  rear  of 
the  United  States  are  possessed  by  other  powers,  and  formida- 
ble ones  too ;  nor  how  necessary  it  is  to  apply  interest  to  bind 
all  parts  of  the  union  together  by  indissoluble  bonds.  The 
western  states,  I  speak  now  from  my  own  observation,  stand 
as  it  were  upon  a  pivot ;  the  touch  of  a  feather  would  turn 
them  any  way.  They  have  looked  down  the  Mississippi  until 
the  Spaniards  threw  difficulties  in  their  way.  The  untoward 
disposition  of  the  Spaniards  on  the  one  hand  and  the  policy  of 
Great  Britain  on  the  other  to  retain  as  long  as  possible  the 
posts  of  Detroit,  Magara,  and  Oswego,  may  be  improved  to 
the  greatest  advantage  by  this  state  if  she  would  open  the  ave- 
nues to  the  trade  of  that  country."  f 

Harrison  heartily  approved  the  views  of  Washington,  and 
laid  his  letter  before  the  assembly  of  Yirginia,  whose  members 

*  Washington's  Journal.     MS. 

f  Washington  to  Harrison,  10  October  118i.     Sparks,  ix.,  62,  63,  64. 


1784-1785.  THE   WEST.  127 

gladly  accepted  its  large  views  and  stood  ready  to  give  them 
legislative  support.  "^ 

Meantime  Lafayette,  wlio  was  making  a  tour  through  the 
United  States  and  receiving  everywhere  a  grateful  and  joj^ous 
welcome,  was  expected  in  Virginia.  For  the  occasion,  Wasli- 
ington  repaired  to  Kichmond ;  and  there,  on  the  fifteenth  of 
l!^ovember,  the  assembly,  to  mark  their  reverence  and  affec- 
tion, sent  Patrick  Henry,  Madison,  and  others  to  assure  him 
that  they  retained  the  most  lasting  impressions  of  the  tran- 
scendent services  rendered  in  his  late  public  character,  and  had 
proofs  that  no  change  of  situation  could  turn  his  thoughts  from 
the  welfare  of  his  country. 

Three  days  later  the  house,  by  the  same  committee,  ad- 
dressed Lafayette,  recalling  "  his  cool  intrepidity  and  wise  con- 
duct during  his  command  in  the  campaign  of  1781,  and,  as  the 
wish  most  suitable  to  his  character,  desired  that  those  who 
might  emulate  his  glory  would  equally  pursue  the  interests  of 
humanity." 

From  Eichmond  Lafayette  accompanied  Washington  to 
Mount  Vernon,  and,  after  a  short  visit,  was  attended  by  his 
host  as  far  as  Annapolis,  where  he  received  the  congratulations 
of  Maryland.  On  the  thirteenth  of  December  congress,  in  a 
public  session,  took  leave  of  him  with  every  mark  of  honor. 
In  his  answer  he  repeated  the  great  injunctions  of  Washing- 
ton's farewell  letter,  and,  having  travelled  widely  in  the  coun- 
try, bore  witness  to  "  the  prevaihng  disposition  of  the  people 
to  strengthen  the  confederation."  For  America  his  three 
"  hobbies,"  as  he  called  them,  were  the  closer  federal  union, 
the  alliance  with  France,  and  the  abolition  of  slavery.  He 
embarked  for  his  native  land  "  fraught  with  affection  to  Amer- 
ica, and  disposed  to  render  it  every  possible  service."  f  To 
Washington  he  announced  from  Europe  that  he  was  about  to 
attempt  the  relief  of  the  protestants  in  France,  ij: 

The  conversation  of  Washington  during  his  stay  in  Bich- 
mond  had  still  further  impressed  members  of  the  legislature 
with  the  magnitude   of   his   designs.     Shortly  after  his  de- 

*  Harrison  to  Washington,  13  November  1784.     Sparks,  ix.,  68. 
f  Jefferson  to  Madison,  18  March  1785. 
X  Lafayette  to  Washington,  11  May  1785. 


128    ON"  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDEEAL  CONYENTIOK  b.ii.;  OH.m. 

parture  a  joint  memorial  from  inhabitants  of  Maryland  and  of 
Yirginia,  representing  the  advantages  whicli  would  flow  from 
establishing  under  the  authority  of  the  two  states  a  company 
for  improving  the  navigation  of  the  Potomac,  was  presented 
to  the  general  assembly  of  each  of  them.  But  the  proposed 
plan  had  defects,  and,  moreover,  previous  communication  be- 
t  v^een  the  two  states  could  alone  secure  uniformity  of  action. 
It  was  decided  to  consult  with  Maryland,  and  the  negotiation 
was  committed  to  Washington  himself.  Leaving  Mount  Yer- 
non  on  the  fourteenth  of  December  1Y84  at  a  few  hours'  notice, 
the  general  hastened  to  Annapolis.  Amendments  of  the  plan 
were  thoughtfully  digested,  rapidly  carried  through  both  houses, 
and  dispatched  to  Richmond.  There  a  law  of  the  same  tenor 
Avas  immediately  passed  *  without  opposition,  "  to  the  mutual 
satisfaction  of  both  states,"  and,  as  Washington  hoped,  "to  the 
advantage  of  the  union."  f 

At  the  same  time  the  two  governments  made  appropria- 
tions for  opening  a  road  from  the  highest  practicable  naviga- 
tion of  the  Potomac  to  that  of  the  river  Cheat  or  Monongahela, 
and  they  concurred  in  an  application  to  Pennsylvania  for  per- 
mission to  open  another  road  from  Fort  Cumberland  to  the 
Yohogany.  Like  measures  were  initiated  by  Yirginia  for  con- 
necting James  river  with  some  affluent  of  the  Great  Kanawha. 
Moreover,  the  executive  was  authorized  to  appoint  commis- 
sioners to  examine  the  most  convenient  course  for  a  canal  be- 
tween Elizabeth  river  and  the  waters  of  the  Roanoke,  and 
contingently  to  make  application  to  the  legislature  of  ]^orth 
Carolina  for  its  concurrence.  J 

Early  in  1785  the  legislature  of  Yirginia,  repeating,  in 
words  written  by  Madison,  "their  sense  of  the  unexampled 
merits  of  George  "Washington  toward  his  country,"  vested  in 
him  shares  in  both  the  companies  alike  of  the  Potomac  and  of 
James  river.*  But,  conscious  of  the  weight  of  his  counsels, 
he  never  suffered  his  influence  to  be  impaired  by  any  suspicion 
of  interested  motives,  and,  not  able  to  undo  an  act  of  the  legis- 
lature, held  the  shares,  but  only  as  a  trustee  for  the  public. 

*  Hening,  x.,  510.  f  Madison,  i.,  123,  124.     Sparks,  ix.,  82. 
I  Washington  to  R.  H.  Lee,  8  February  1785.     Sparks,  ix.,  91. 

*  Hening,  xi.,  525,  526. 


1785.  THE   WEST.  129 

Anotlier  question  between  Maryland  and  Yirginia  remained 
for  solution.  The  cliarter  to  Lord  Baltimore,  which  Yirginia 
had  resisted  as  a  severance  of  her  territory,  bounded  his  juris- 
diction by  the  "  further  bank  "  of  the  Potomac.  When  both 
states  assumed  independence,  Virginia  welcomed  her  northern 
neighbor  to  the  common  war  for  liberty  by  releasing  every 
claim  to  its  territory,  but  she  reserved  the  navigation  of  the 
border  stream.  To  define  with  exactness  their  respective  rights 
on  its  waters,  the  Virginia  legislature,  in  June  1784,  led  the 
way  by  naming  George  Mason,  Edmund  Randolph,  Madison, 
and  Alexander  Henderson  as  their  commissioners  to  frame, 
"  in  concert  with  commissioners  of  Maryland,  liberal,  equitable, 
and  mutually  advantageous  regulations  touching  the  jurisdic- 
tion and  navigation  of  the  river."  *  Maryland  gladly  accepted 
the  invitation,  and  in  the  following  March  the  joint  commission 
was  to  meet  at  Alexandria,  hard  by  Mount  Vernon.  In  this 
manner,  through  the  acts  and  appropriations  of  the  legislature 
of  Virginia,  Washington  connected  the  interests  and  hopes  of 
her  people  with  the  largest  and  noblest  conceptions,  and  to  the 
states  alike  on  her  southern  and  her  northern  border  and  to  the 
rising  empire  in  the  West,  where  she  would  surely  meet  ll^ew 
York  and  IMew  England,  she  gave  the  weightiest  pledges  of 
inviolable  attachment  to  the  union.  To  carry  forward  these 
designs,  the  next  step  must  be  taken  by  congress,  which  should 
have  met  at  Trenton  on  the  first  day  of  ISTovember  1Y84,  but, 
from  tlie  tardy  arrival  of  its  members,  was  not  organized  until 
the  thirtieth.  It  was  the  rule  of  congress  that  its  president 
should  be  chosen  in  succession  from  each  one  of  the  different 
states.  Beginning  with  Virginia,  it  had  proceeded  through 
them  all  except  ITew  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  I^orth  Caro- 
lina, and  Georgia.  But  now  the  rule,  which  in  itself  was  a  bad 
one,  was  broken,f  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  was  elected  presi- 
dent. The  rule  of  rotation  was  never  again  followed ;  but 
this  want  of  fidelity  to  a  custom  that  had  long  been  respected 
tended  to  increase  the  jealousy  of  the  small  states.  Before 
Christmas  and  before  finishing  any  important  business,  con- 
gress, not  finding  sufficient  accommodations  in  Trenton,  ad- 

*  Journals  of  House  of  Delegates  for  28  June  1784. 
f  Madison,  i.,  117.     Otto  to  Vergeunes,  15  June  1786.     MS. 
VOL.  yi. — 9 


130    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION",  b.ii.;  oh.  m. 

journed  to  the  eleventh  of  January  1Y85,  and  to  ISTew  York  as 
its  abode. 

Congress  had  put  at  its  head  the  most  determined  and  the 
most  restlessly  indefatigable  opponent  of  any  change  whatever 
in  the  articles  of  confederation.  Lee  renewed  intimate  relations 
with  Gerry,  the  leading  member  of  congress  from  Massachu- 
setts. He  sought  to  revive  his  earlier  influence  in  Boston 
through  Samuel  Adams.  The  venerable  patriot  shared  his 
jealousy  of  conferring  too  great  powers  on  a  body  far  removed 
from  its  constituents,  but  had  always  supported  a  strict  enforce- 
ment of  the  just  authority  of  government,  and  he  replied : 
"  Better  it  would  have  been  for  us  to  have  fallen  in  our  highly 
famed  struggle  for  our  rights  than  now  to  become  a  contempt- 
ible nation."  * 

The  harbor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  was  at  that  time 
the  most  convenient  port  of  entry  for  'New  Jersey  and  Connecti- 
cut, and  the  State  of  JSTew  York,  through  its  custom-house, 
levied  on  their  inhabitants  as  well  as  on  its  own  an  ever  in- 
creasing revenue  by  imposts.  The  collector  was  a  stubborn 
partisan.  The  last  legislature  had  elected  to  the  fifth  congress 
Jay,  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Egbert  Benson,  and  Lansing,  of 
whom,  even,  after  Jay  became  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs, 
a  majority  favored  the  founding  of  a  nation.  But  the  opinions 
of  the  president  of  congress,  yAio  was  respected  as  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  statesmen  of  Virginia,  assisted  to  bring  about 
a  revolution  in  the  politics  of  New  York.f  On  the  nineteenth 
of  March  1785  its  legislature  appointed  three  "  additional  dele- 
gates" to  congress,  of  whom  Haring  and  Melancton  Smith, 
like  Lansing,  opposed  federal  measures ;  and  for  tlie  next  four 
years  the  state  of  ISTew  York  obstinately  resisted  a  thorough 
revision  of  the  constitution.  Of  the  city  of  New  York,  the 
aspirations  for  a  national  union  could  not  be  repressed. 

On  the  fourteenth  of  December  1784,  soon  after  the  organi- 
zation of  congress,  Washington,  with  a  careful  discrimination 
between  the  office  of  that  body  and  the  functions  of  the  states, 
urged  through  its  president  that  congress  should  have  the 
western  waters  well  explored,  their  capacities  for  navigation 

*  S.  Adams  to  R.  H.  Lee,  23  December  1784. 

f  Jay  to  Washington,  27  Jane  17S6.     Letters  to  Washington,  iv.,  136. 


1785.  THE   WEST.  131 

ascertained  as  far  as  the  communications  between  Lake  Erie 
and  the  Wabash,  and  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  a  complete  and  perfect  map  made  of  the  country  at 
least  as  far  west  as  the  Miamis,  which  run  into  the  Ohio  and 
Lake  Erie.  And  he  pointed  out  the  Miami  village  as  the  place 
for  a  Yerj  important  post  for  the  union.  The  expense  attending 
such  an  undertaking  could  not  be  great ;  the  advantages  would 
be  unbounded.  "  Nature,"  he  said,  "  has  made  such  a  display 
of  her  bounty  in  those  regions  that  the  more  the  country  is 
explored  the  more  it  Avill  rise  in  estimation.  The  spirit  of 
emigration  is  great ;  people  have  got  impatient ;  and,  though 
you  cannot  stop  the  road,  it  is  yet  in  your  power  to  mark 
the  way.  A  little  while  and  you  will  not  be  able  to  do 
either."  *'^* 

In  the  same  week  in  which  the  legislature  of  'New  York 
reversed  its  position  on  national  policy,  Washington  renewed 
his  admonitions  to  Lee  on  planting  the  western  territory. 
"  The  mission  of  congress  will  now  be  to  fix  a  medium  price 
on  these  lands  and  to  point  out  the  most  advantageous  mode  of 
seating  them,  so  that  law  and  good  government  may  be  admin- 
istered, and  the  union  strengthened  and  supported.  Pro- 
gressive seating  is  the  only  means  by  which  this  can  be 
effected ; "  and,  resisting  the  politicians  who  might  wish  to 
balance  northern  states  by  southern,  he  insisted  that  to  mark 
out  but  one  new  state  would  better  advance  the  public  welfare 
than  to  mark  out  ten.  f 

On  the  eleventh  of  March  William  Grayson  took  his  seat 
for  the  first  time  as  a  member  of  congress.  He  had  been  edu- 
cated in  England  at  Oxford,  and  had  resided  at  the  Temple  in 
London.  His  short  career  furnishes  only  glimpses  of  his 
character.  In  1776  he  had  been  an  aide-de-camp  to  Washing- 
ton, with  whom  he  kept  up  affectionate  relations ;  in  1777  he 
commanded  a  Yirginia  regiment  and  gained  honors  at  Mon- 
mouth. His  private  life  appears  to  have  been  faultless ;  his 
public  acts  show  independence,  courage,  and  a  humane  and 
noble  nature.  In  the  state  legislature  of  the  previous  winter 
he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  to  which  Washington's  re- 

*  Washington  to  R.  H.  Lee,  14  December  1'784.     Sparks,  ix.,  80,  8L 
f  Vv^ashington  to  U.  H.  Lee,  15  March  1785. 


132    Oj^  the  way  to  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.  ii.  ;  on.  m. 

port  on  the  negotiations  with  Maryland  had  been  referred.* 
The  first  evidence  of  his  arrival  in  'New  York  is  a  letter  of  the 
tenth  of  March  1785,  to  his  former  chief,  announcing  that 
Jefferson's  ordinance  for  disposing  of  western  lands,  which 
had  had  its  first  reading  in  May  1784,  had  been  brought  once 
more  before  congress. 

]^ot  Washington  alone  had  reminded  congress  of  its  duties 
to  the  West.  Informed  by  Gerry  of  the  course  of  public 
business,  Timothy  Pickering,  from  Philadelphia,  addressed 
most  earnest  letters  to  Pufus  King.  He  compkined  that  no 
reservation  of  land  was  made  for  the  support  of  ministers  of 
the  gospel,  nor  even  for  schools  and  academies,  and  he  further 
wrote :  "  Congress  once  made  this  important  declaration,  ^  that 
all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness ' ;  and  these  truths 
were  held  to  be  self-evident.  To  suffer  the  continuance  of 
slaves  till  they  can  gradually  be  emancipated,  in  states  already 
overrun  with  them,  may  be  pardonable  because  unavoidable 
without  hazarding  greater  evils ;  but  to  introduce  them  into 
countries  where  none  now  exist  can  never  be  forgiven.  For 
God's  sake,  then,  let  one  more  effort  be  made  to  prevent  so 
terrible  a  calamity !  The  fundamental  constitutions  for  those 
states  are  yet  liable  to  alterations,  and  this  is  probably  the  only 
time  when  the  evil  can  certainly  be  prevented."  I^or  would 
Pickering  harbor  the  thought  of  delay  in  the  exclusion  of 
slavery.  "  It  will  be  infinitely  easier,"  he  said,  "  to  prevent 
the  evil  at  first  than  to  eradicate  it  or  check  it  in  any  future 
time."  f 

The  sixteenth  of  March  wa*s  fixed  for  the  discussion  of  the 
affairs  of  the  West.  The  report  that  was  before  congress  was 
Jefferson's  scheme  for  "  locating  and  disposing  of  land  in  the 
western  territory ; "  and  it  was  readily  referred  to  a  committee 
of  one  from  each  state,  Grayson  being  the  member  from  Vir- 
ginia and  King  from  Massachusetts.  King,  seconded  by  EUery 
of  Rhode  Island,  proposed  that  a  part  of  the  rejected  anti- 
slavery  clause  in  Jefferson's  ordinance  for  the  government  of 

*  Journals  Yirginia  House  of  Delegates,  99. 

f  Pickering  to  King,  8  March  1785.     Pickering's  Pickering,  i.,  509,  510. 


1785.  THE   WEST.  I33 

the  western  territory  should  be  referred  to  a  committee  ;  *  all 
that  related  to  the  western  territory  of  the  three  southern 
states  was  omitted ;  and  so,  too,  was  the  clause  postponing  the 
prohibition  of  slavery. 

On  the  question  for  committing  this  proposition,  the  four 
E'ew  England  states,  JSTew  York,  'New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylva- 
nia, voted  unanimously  in  the  affirmative ;  Maryland  by  a  ma- 
jority, McHenry  going  with  the  South,  John  Henry  and  Will- 
iam Hindman  with  the  North.  For  Virginia,  Grayson  voted 
aye,  but  was  overpowered  by  Hardy  and  Richard  Henry  Lee. 
The  two  Carolinas  were  unanimous  for  the  negative.  Houston 
of  Georgia  answered  no,  but  being  on  that  day  the  sole  repre- 
sentative of  Georgia,  his  vote  was  not  counted.  So  the  vote 
stood  eight  states  against  three;  eighteen  members  against 
eight  ;f  and  the  motion  was  forthwith  committed  to  King, 
Howell,  and  Ellery.  :j: 

On  the  sixth  of  April,  King  from  his  committee  reported 
his  resolution,  which  is  entirely  in  his  own  handwriting,*  and 
which  consists  of  two  clauses :  it  allowed  slavery  in  the  ITorth- 
west  until  the  first  day  of  the  year  1801,  but  no  longer ;  and  it 
"  provided  that  always,  upon  the  escape  of  any  person  into  any 
of  the  states  described  in  the  resolve  of  congress  of  the  twenty- 
third  day  of  April  1784,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully 
claimed  in  any  one  of  the  thirteen  original  states,  such  fugitive 
might  be  lawfully  reclaimed  and  carried  back  to  the  person 
claiming  his  labor  or  service,  this  resolve  notwithstanding."  |j 

*  The  original  motion  of  Rufus  King  for  the  reference,  in  his  handwriting,  is 
preserved  in  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  vol,  xxxi. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  481,  482. 

X  It  is  indorsed  in  the  handwriting  of  Charles  Thomson :  "  Motion  for  pre- 
venting slavery  in  new  states,  16  March  IVSS.  Referred  to  Mr.  King,  Mr.  Howell, 
Mr.  Ellery." 

*  It  is  to  be  found  in  Papers  of  Old  Congress,  xxxi.,  329,  and  is  indorsed  in 
the  handwriting  of  Rufus  King :  "  Report  on  Mr.  King's  motion  for  the  exclusion 
of  slavery  in  the  new  states."  And  it  is  further  indorsed  in  the  handwriting  of 
Charles  Thomson:  "Mr.  King,  Mr.  Howell,  Mr.  Ellery.  Entered  6  April  1785, 
read.     Thursday,  April  14,  assigned  for  consideration." 

I  The  printed  copy  of  this  report  of  King  is  to  be  found  in  Papers  of  Old 
Congress,  xxxi.,  331,  and  is  indorsed  in  the  handwriting  of  Charles  Thomson: 
"  To  prevent  slavery  in  the  new  states.  Included  in  substance  in  the  ordinance 
for  a  temporary  government  passed  the  13  July  ITST." 


134    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  cn.m. 

King  reserved  his  resolution  to  be  brought  forward  as  a  sepa- 
rate measure,  after  the  land  ordinance  should  be  passed.  "  I 
expect,"  wrote  Grayson  to  Madison,  "seven  states  may  be 
found  liberal  enough  to  adopt  it ;"  *  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  it  was  ever  again  called  up  in  that  congress. 

On  the  twelfth  of  April  f  the  committee  for  framing  an 
ordinance  for  the  disposal  of  the  western  lands  made  their  re- 
port. It  was  written  by  Grayson,  :j:  who  formed  it  out  of  a 
conflict  of  opinions,  and  took  the  chief  part  in  conducting  it 
through  the  house.  As  an  inducement  for  neighborhoods  of 
the  same  religious  sentiments  to  confederate  for  the  purpose 
of  purchasing  and  settling  together,  it  was  a  land  law  for  a 
people  going  forth  to  take  possession  of  a  seemingly  endless 
domain.  Its  division  was  to  be  into  townships,  with  a  ]3er- 
petual  reservation  of  one  mile  scpiare  in  every  township  for 
the  support  of  religion,  and  another  for  education.  The 
house  refused  its  assent  to  the  reservation  for  the  support  of 
religion,  as  connecting  the  church  with  the  state ;  but  the 
reservation  for  the  support  of  schools  received  a  general  wel- 
come. Jefferson  had  proposed  townships  of  ten  miles  square ; 
the  committee,  of  seven  ;  but  the  motion  of  Grayson,  that  they 
should  be  of  six  miles  square,*  was  finally  accepted.  The 
South,  accustomed  to  the  mode  of  indiscriminate  locations  and 
settlements,  insisted  on  the  rule  which  would  give  the  most 
free  scope  to  the  roving  emigrant ;  and,  as  the  bill  required 
the  vote  of  nine  states  for  adoption,  and  during  the  debates  on 
the  subject  more  than  ten  were  never  present,  the  eastern 
people,  though  "  amazingly  attached  to  their  own  custom  of 
planting  by  townships,"  yielded  to  the  compromise  that  every 
other  township  should  be  sold  by  sections.  ||  The  surveys  were 
to  be  confined  to  one  state  and  to  five  ranges,  extending  from 
the  Ohio  to  Lake  Erie,  and  were  to  be  made  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  geographer  of  the  United  States.     The  bounds  of 

*  Grayson  to  Madison,  1  May  17S5.     The  ordinance  for  the  sale  of  lands  re- 
quired the  consent  of  nine  states ;  the  regulative  ordinance,  of  but  seven. 

f  Grayson  to  Washington,  15  April  1785. 

X  The  original  report  in  the  handwriting  of  Grayson  is  preserved  in  the  Papers 
of  Old  Congress,  Ivi.,  451. 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  512.  |  Grayson  to  Madison,  1  May  1785. 


1785.  THE  WEST.  135 

every  parcel  that  was  sold  were  fixed  beyond  a  question ;  the 
mode  of  registry  was  simple,  convenient,  and  almost  without 
cost ;  the  form  of  conveyance  most  concise  and  clear.  JSTever 
was  land  offered  to  a  poor  man  at  less  cost  or  with  a  safer  title. 
For  one  bad  provision,  which,  however,  was  three  years  after 
repealed,  the  consent  of  congress  was  for  the  moment  extorted ; 
the  lands,  as  surveyed,  were  to  be  drawn  for  by  lot  by  the  sev- 
eral states  in  proportion  to  the  requisitions  made  upon  them, 
and  were  to  be  sold  publicly  within  the  states.  But  it  was 
carefully  provided  that  they  should  be  paid  for  in  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  United  States,  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  an  acre.  To 
secure  the  promises  made  to  Virginia,  chieily  on  behalf  of  the 
ofiicers  and  soldiers  who  took  part  in  conquering  the  North- 
west from  British  authority,  it  was  agreed,  after  a  discussion 
of  four  days,*  to  reserve  the  district  between  the  Little  Miami 
and  the  Scioto. 

The  land  ordinance  of  Jefferson,  as  amended  from  1784  to 
1Y88,  definitively  settled  the  character  of  the  national  land 
laws,  which  are  still  treasured  up  as  one  of  the  most  precious 
heritages  from  the  founders  of  the  republic. 

The  frontier  settlements  at  the  west  needed  the  protection 
of  a  military  force.  In  1784,  soon  after  the  exchange  of  the 
ratifications  of  peace,  Gerry  at  Annapolis  protested  against 
the  right  of  congress  on  its  own  authority  to  raise  standing 
armies  or  even  a  few  armed  men  in  time  of  peace.  His  con- 
duct was  approved  by  his  state,  wliose'||ielegation  was  in- 
structed to  oppose  and  protest  on  all  occasions  against  the 
exercise  of  the  power.  From  that  time  congress  had  done  no 
more  than  recommend  the  states  to  raise  troops.  •  It  was  now 
thought  necessary  to  raise  seven  hundred  men  to  protect  the 
"West.  The  recommendation  should  have  been  proportioned 
among  all  the  states ;  but  congress  ventured  to  call  only  on 
Connecticut,  ISTew  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  as  the 
states  most  conveniently  situated  to  furnish  troops  who  were 
to  be  formed  into  one  regiment  and  for  three  years  guard  the 
north-western  frontiers  and  the  public  stores. 

*  Grayson  to  Madison,  1  May  1785. 


136    01!T  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  OONVEN"TION.  b.il;  on.iy. 


CHAPTER  lY. 

THE   KEGULATION   OF   COMMEECE.      THE   FIFTH   CONGKESS. 

1784-1785. 

The  legislature  of  Connecticut  in  1783,  angrj  at  the  grant 
of  half  pay  to  the  officers  of  the  army,  insisted  that  the  requi- 
sitions of  congress  had  no  validity  until  they  received  the 
approval  of  the  state.  But  the  vote  was  only  "  a  fire  among 
the  brambles;"  and  the  people  at  the  next  election  chose  a 
;  legislature  which  accepted  the  general  impost  on  commerce, 
even  though  it  should  be  assented  to  by  no  more  than  twelve 
states.*  The  Yirginia  assembly  of  that  year  discountenanced 
the  deviation  from  the  rule  of  unanimity  as  a  dangerous  pre- 
cedent ;  f  but  it  was  adopted  by  Maryland.  J 

In  the  following  winter  I^oah  Webster  of  Hartford  busied 
himself  in  the  search  for  a  form  of  a  continental  government 
which  should  act  as  efficaciously  on  its  members  as  a  local  gov- 
ernment. "  So  long  as  any  individual  state  has  power  to  de- 
feat the  measures  of  the  other  twelve,  our  pretended  union," 
so  he  expressed  the  opinion  which  began  to  prevail,  "  is  but  a 
name,  and  our  confederation  a  cobweb.  The  sovereignty  of 
each  state  ought  not  to  be  abridged  in  any  article  relating  to 
its  own  government ;  in  a  matter  that  equally  resjDects  all  the 
states,  a  majority  of  the  states  must  decide.  We  cannot  and 
ought  not  to  divest  ourselves  of  provincial  attachments,  but 
we  should  subordinate  them  to  the  general  interest  of  the  con- 

*  Jlonroe  to  Madison,  14  December  1784. 

f  Madison  to  Monroe,  24  December  1784.     Madison,  i,,  114,  115. 
X  Act  of  Maryland.    Session  of  1784,  1785.     In  Pennsylvania  Packet  of  8 
February  1785. 


1784-'5.  KEGULATIOX  OF  COMMERCE.    FIFTH  CONGRESS.  137 

tinent ;  as  a  citizen  of  the  American  empire,  every  individual 
has  a  national  interest  far  superior  to  all  others."  * 

The  outlays  in  America  of  the  British  in  the  last  year  of 
their  occupation  of  New  York,  and  the  previous  expenditures 
for  the  French  army,  had  supplied  the  northern  states  with 
specie ;  so  that  purchasers  were  found  for  the  bills  of  Robert 
Morris  on  Europe,  which  were  sold  at  a  discount  of  twenty  or 
even  forty  per  cent.f  The  prospect  of  enormous  gains  tempted 
American  merchants  to  import  in  one  year  more  than  their 
exports  could  pay  for  in  three  ;  :J:  while  factors  of  English 
houses,  bringing  over  British  goods  on  British  account,  jostled 
the  American  merchants  in  their  own  streets.  Fires  which 
still  bum  were  then  lighted.  He  that  will  trace  the  American 
policy  of  that  day  to  its  cause  must  look  to  British  restrictions 
and  British  protective  duties  suddenly  applied  to  Americans 
as  aliens. 

The  people  had  looked  for  peace  and  prosperity  to  come 
hand  in  hand,  and,  when  hostilities  ceased,  they  ran  into  debt 
for  English  goods,  never  doubting  that  their  wonted  industries 
would  yield  them  the  means  of  payment  as  of  old.  But  ex- 
cessive importations  at  low  prices  crushed  domestic  manufac- 
tures ;  trade  with  the  British  West  Indies  was  obstructed ; 
neither  rice,  tobacco,  pitch,  turpentine,  nor  ships  could  be  re- 
mitted as  heretofore.  The  whale  fishery  of  Massachusetts  had 
brought  to  its  mariners  in  a  year  more  than  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  specie,  the  clear  gain*  of  perilous  labor. 
The  export  of  their  oil  was  now  obstructed  by  a  duty  in  Eng- 
land of  ninety  dollars  the  ton.  Importations  from  England 
must  be  paid  for  chiefly  by  cash  and  bills  of  exchange.  The 
Americans  had'  chosen  to  be  aliens  to  England ;  they  could  not 
complain  of  being  taxed  like  aliens,  but  they  awoke  to  demand 
powers  of  retaliation. 

The  country  began  to  be  in  earnest  as  it  summoned  con- 
gress to  change  its  barren  discussions  for  efficient  remedies. 
The  ever  increasing  voice  of  complaint  broke  out  from  the 
impatient  commercial  towns  of  the  northern  and  central  states. 

*  Sketches  of  American  Policy  by  Noah  Webster,  pp.  32-38. 
f  Pclatiah  Webster's  Essays,  Edition  1791,  266,  267,  note. 
X  E.  Bancroft  to  \Y.  Erazer,  8  November  1783. 


138    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.  ii.  ;  ch.  iv. 

On  the  eleventli  of  Jannarj  1785,  the  day  on  wliicli  congress 
established  itself  in  !New  York,  the  artificers,  tradesmen,  and 
mechanics  of  that  city,  as  they  gave  it  a  welcome,  added  these 
brave  words :  "  We  hope  our  representatives  will  coincide  with 
the  other  states  in  angmeiiting  your  power  to  every  exigency 
of  the  union."  *  The  JSTew  York  chamber  of  commerce  in 
like  manner  entreated  it  to  make  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States  one  of  the  first  objects  of  its  care,  and  to  counteract  the 
injurious  restrictions  of  foreign  nations,  f  The  New  York 
legislature,  then  in  session,  imposed  a  double  duty  on  all  goods 
imported  in  British  bottoms.  :j: 

On  the  twenty-second  of  March  1785  a  bill  to  "protect 
the  manufactures  "  of  Pennsylvania  by  specific  or  ad  valorem 
duties  on  more  than  seventy  articles,  among  them  on  manufac- 
tures of  iron  and  steel,  was  read  in  its  assembly  for  the  second 
time,  debated  by  paragraphs,  and  then  ordered  to  be  printed 
for  public  consideration.*  The  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  re- 
calling the  usages  of  the  revolution,  on  the  second  of  June 
held  a  town-meeting ;  and,  after  the  deliberations  of  their  com- 
mittee for  eighteen  days,  they  declared  that  relief  from  the 
oppressions  under  which  the  American  trade  and  manufac- 
tures languished  could  spring  only  from  the  grant  to  congress 
of  full  constitutional  powers  over  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States;  that  foreign  manufactures  interfering  with  domestic 
industry  ought  to  be  discouraged  by  prohibitions  or  protective 
duties.  They  raised  a  committee  to  lay  their  resolutions  in  the 
form  of  a  petition  before  their  own  assembly,  and  to  correspond 
with  committees  appointed  elsewhere  for  similar  purposes.  On 
the  twentieth  of  September,  after  the  bill  of  the  Pennsylvania 
legislature  had  been  nearly  six  months  under  consideration  by 
the  people,  and  after  it  had  been  amended  by  an  increase  of 
duties,  especially  on  manufactures  of  iron,  and  by  a  discriminat- 
ing tonnage  duty  on  ships  of  nations  having  no  treaty  of  com- 
merce with  congress,  it  became  a  law  ||  with  general  acclamation. 

*  MS.  vol.  of  Eemonstranccs  and  Addresses,  343. 
f  MS.  vol.  of  Remonstrances  and  Addresses,  351. 

:f:  Chief  Justice  Smith's  extract  of  letters  from  New  York.     MS. 

*  Pennsylvania  Packet,  18  May  1785. 

jl  The  Act  appears  in  full  in  Pennsylvania  Packet  of  22  September  1785. 
Van  Berckel's  report  to  the  States-General,  4  October  1785. 


1785.   REGULATION"  OF  COMMERCE.    FIFTH   CONGRESS.     I39 

Pennsylvania  liad  been  cheered  on  its  way  by  voices  from 
Boston.  On  tlie  eighteenth  of  April  the  merchants  and  trades- 
men of  that  town,  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  established  a  com- 
mittee of  correspondence  with  merchants  of  other  towns, 
bound  themselves  not  to  buy  British  goods  of  resident  British 
factors,  and  prayed  congress  for  the  needed  immediate  relief.* 
Their  petition  was  reserved  by  congress  for  consideration  when 
the  report  of  its  committee  on  commerce  should  be  taken  up. 
The  movement  in  Boston  penetrated  every  class  of  its  citizens ; 
its  artisans  and  mechanics  joined  the  merchants  and  tradesmen 
in  condemning  the  ruinous  excess  of  British  importations.  To 
these  proceedings  Grayson  directed  the  attention  of  Madison.f 

On  the  tenth  of  May  the  town  of  Boston  elected  its  repre- 
sentatives to  the  general  court,  among  them  Hancock,  vdiose 
health  had  not  permitted  him  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  place 
of  governor.  Two  years  before,  Boston,  in  its  mandate  to  the 
men  of  its  choice,  had,  in  extreme  language,  vindicated  the 
absolute  sovereignty  of  the  state  ;  the  town,  no  longer  wedded 
to  the  pride  of  independence,  instructed  its  representatives  in 
this  wise :  Peace  has  not  brought  back  prosperity ;  foreigners 
monopolize  our  commerce ;  the  American  carrying  trade  and 
the  American  finances  are  threatened  with  annihilation ;  the 
government  should  encourage  agriculture,  protect  manufac- 
tures, and  establish  a  public  revenue ;  the  confederacy  is  inade- 
quate to  its  purposes ;  congress  should  be  invested  with  power 
competent  to  the  wants  of  the  country;  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts  should  request  the  executive  to  oj^en  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  governors  of  all  the  states ;  from  national 
unanimity  and  national  exertion  we  have  derived  cur  free- 
dom ;  the  joint  action  of  the  several  parts  of  the  union  can 
alone  restore  happiness  and  security.  :j: 

ISTo  candidate  for  the  office  of  governor  of  Massachusetts 
having  for  that  year  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
people,  the  general  court,  in  May  1785,  made  choice  of 
James  Bowdoin,  a  veteran  statesman  who  thirty  years  before 
had  distinguished  himself  in  the  legislature  by  a  speech  in 
favor  of  the  union  of  the  colonies.     He  had  led  one  branch  of 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  516,  517.  f  Grayson  to  lladison,  1  May  1785. 

:j:  Boston  Town  Records.     MS. 


140    OK  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  oh.iv. 

the  government  in  its  resistance  to  British  usurpations ;  and, 
when  hostilities  broke  out,  he  served  his  native  state  as  presi- 
dent of  its  supreme  executive  council  till  the  British  were 
driven  from  the  commonwealth.  His  long  years  of  public  ser- 
vice had  established  his  fame  for  moderation,  courage,  consist- 
ency, and  uprightness.  A  republican  at  heart,  he  had  had  an 
important  share  in  framing  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts. 
In  his  inaugural  address  he  scorned  to  complain  of  the  restrict- 
ive policy  of  England,  saying  rather :  Britain  and  other  na- 
tions have  an  undoubted  right  to  regulate  their  trade  with  us  ; 
and  the  United  States  have  an  equal  right  to  regulate  ours  with 
them,  j  Congress  should  be  vested  with  all  the  powers  neces- 
sary to  preserve  the  union,  manage  its  general  concerns,  and 
promote  the  common  interest.  For  the  commercial  inter- 
course with  foreign  nations  the  confederation  does  not  suffi- 
ciently provide.  "  This  matter,"  these  were  his  words,  "  mer- 
its your  particular  attention  ;  if  you  think  that  congress  should 
be  vested  with  ampler  powers,  and  that  special  delegates  should 
be  convened  to  settle  and  define  them,  you  will  take  measures 
for  such  a  convention,  whose  agreement,  when  confirmed  by 
the  states,  would  ascertain  those  powers." 

In  reply,  the  two  branches  of  the  legislature  jointly  pledged 
"  their  most  earnest  endeavor "  to  establish  "  the  federal  gov- 
ernment on  a  firm  basis,  and  to  perfect  the  union ; "  and  on  the 
first  day  of  July  the  general  court  united  in  the  following 
resolve :  "  The  present  powers  of  the  congress  of  the  United 
States,  as  contained  in  the  articles  of  confederation,  are  not 
fully  adequate  to  the  great  purposes  they  were  originally  de- 
signed to  eifect."  * 

That  the  want  of  adequate  powers  in  the  federal  govern- 
ment might  find  a  remedy  as  soon  as  possible,  they  sent  to  the 
president  of  congress,  through  their  own  delegation,  the  reso- 
lution which  they  had  adopted,  with  a  circular  letter  to  be 
forwarded  by  him  to  the  supreme  executive  of  each  state ;  and 
they  further  "  directed  the  delegates  of  the  state  to  take  the 
earliest  opportunity  of  laying  them  before  congress,  and  mak- 
ing every  exertion  to  carry  the  object  of  them  into  effect."  f 

*  Massachusetts  Repolve,  Ixxvi.,  in  Resolves,  July  1*785,  38,  39. 
f  Massachusetts  Resolve,  Ixxix. 


1785.    REGULATION"  OF  COMMERCE.    FIFTH   CONGRESS.    141 

In  concert  with  New  Hampshire,  and  followed  bj  Ehode 
Island,  they  passed  a  navigation  act  forbidding  exports  from 
their  harbors  in  British  bottoms,  and  establishing  a  discrimi- 
nating tonnage  duty  on  foreign  vessels ;  '^  but  only  as  "  a  tem- 
porary expedient,  until  a  well-guarded  power  to  regulate  trade 
shall  be  intrusted  to  congress."  f  Domestic  manufactures  were 
protected  by  more  than  a  fourfold  increase  of  duties ;  j^  and 
"  congress  was  requested  to  recommend  a  convention  of  dele- 
gates from  all  the  states  to  revise  the  confederation  and  report 
how  far  it  may  be  necessary  to  alter  or  enlarge  the  same,  in 
order  to  secure  and  perpetuate  the  primary  objects  of  the 
union."  * 

In  August,  the  council  of  Pennsylvania  and  Dickinson,  its 
president,  in  a  message  to  the  general  assembly,  renewed  the 
recommendation  adopted  in  that  state  two  years  before,  say- 
iug :  "  We  again  declare  that  further  authorities  ought  to  be 
vested  in  the  federal  council;  may  the  present  dispositions 
lead  to  as  perfect  an  establishment  as  can  be  devised."  || 

To  his  friend  Bowdoin  John  Adams  wrote :  "  The  Massa- 
chusetts has  often  been  wise  and  able ;  but  she  never  took  a 
deeper  measure  than  her  late  navigation  act.  I  hope  she  v/ill 
persist  in  it  even  though  she  should  be  alone."  "^ 

The  nation  looked  to  congress  for  relief.  In  1776  James 
Monroe  left  the  college  of  William  and  Mary  to  enter  the 
army ;  when  but  nineteen  he  gained  an  honorable  wound  and 
promotion ;  and  rapidly  rose  to  the  rank  of  colonel.  Jefferson 
in  1781  described  him  as  a  Virginian  "  of  abilities,  merit,  and 
fortune,"  and  as  "  his  own  particular  friend."  {)  In  1782  he 
was  of  the  assembly  of  Virginia ;  and  was  chosen  at  three-and- 
twenty  a  member  of  the  executive  council.  In  1783  he  was 
elected  to  the  fourth  congress,  and  at  Annapohs  saw  "Washing- 

*  Annual  Register,  xxvii.,  356.  Pennsylvania  Packet  of  18  July  lYSS  has  the 
Massachusetts  act,  and  of  20  July  that  of  New  Hampshire. 

f  Bowdoin's  circular  of  28  July,  enclosing  the  act.     MS. 

X  Bradford's  Massachusetts,  ii.,  244 ;  Pennsylvania  Packet,  19  July  1785, 

^  Massachusetts  Pesolves,  Ixxvi.,  1  July  1785.  Resolves  of  the  General  Court, 
p.  38. 

y  Minutes  of  Pennsylvania  Council,  25  August  1785.  Colonial  Records,  xiv. 
523.  ^  Adams  to  Governor  Bowdoin,  2  September  1785.     MS. 

^  Jefferson  to  Franklin,  5  October  1781. 


142    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.  ii.  ;  on.  iv. 

ton  resign  his  commission.  Wlien  Jefferson  embarked  for 
France,  lie  remained,  not  the  aljlest,  but  the  most  conspicuous 
representative  of  Virginia  on  the  floor  of  congress.  He  sought 
the  friendship  of  nearly  every  leading  statesman  of  his  com- 
monwealth ;  and  every  one  seemed  glad  to  call  him  a  friend. 
It  V7a3  hard  to  say  whether  he  was  addressed  with  most  affec- 
tion by  Jefferson  or  by  John  Marshall.  His  ambition  made 
him  jealous  of  Randolph ;  the  jDrecedence  of  Madison  he  ac- 
knowledged, yet  not  so  but  that  he  might  consent  to  become 
his  rival.  To  Richard  Henry  Lee  he  turned  as  to  one  from 
whose  zeal  for  liberty  he  might  seek  the  confirmation  of  hio 
own. 

Everybody  in  Virginia  resented  the  restrictive  policy  of 
England.  Monroe,  elected  to  the  fifth  congress,  embarked  on 
the  tide  of  the  rising  popular  feeling.  He  was  willing  to  in- 
vest the  confederation  with  a  perpetual  grant  of  power  to  regu- 
late commerce ;  but  on  condition  that  it  should  not  be  exer- 
cised without  the  consent  of  nine  states.  He  favored  a  revenue 
to  be  derived  from  imports,  provided  that  the  revenue  should 
be  collected  under  the  authority  and  pass  into  the  treasury  of 
the  state  in  which  it  should  accrue.^' 

He  from  the  first  applauded  the  good  temper  and  propriety, 
of  the  new  congress,  the  comprehensiveness  of  mind  wdth 
w^hich  they  attended  to  the  public  interests,  and  their  inclina- 
tion to  the  most  general  and  liberal  principles,  which  seemed 
to  him  "  really  to  promise  great  good  to  the  union."  They 
showed  the  like  good-will  for  him.  On  bringing  forward  the 
all-important  motion  on  commerce,  they  readily  referred  it 
to  himself  as  the  chief  of  the  committee,  with  four  associates, 
of  whom  Spaight  from  North  Carolina,  and  Houston  from 
Georgia,  represented  the  South ;  King  of  Massachusetts,  and 
Johnson  of  Connecticut,  the  North. 

The  complaisant  committee  lent  their  names  to  the  pro- 
posal of  Monroe,  whose  report  was  read  in  congress  on  the 
twenty-eighth  of  March.f     It  was  to  be  accompanied  by  a 

■"'  Monroe  to  Jefferson,  14  December  1784. 

f  Sparks,  ix.,  503,  gives  the  report  in  its  first  form ;  his  date,  hovrever,  is 
erroneous,  from  a  misunderstanding  of  a  letter  of  Grayson,  in  Letters  to  "Washing- 
ton, iv.,  102,  103.     The  day  on  which  the  report  was  made  is  not  certain;  the  day 


1785.    EEGULATION   OF  COMMERCE.    FIFTH  CONGRESS.    143 

letter  to  be  addressed  to  the  legislatures  of  tlie  several  states 
explaining  and  recommending  it ;  and  the  fifth  day  of  April 
was  assigned  for  its  consideration. 

But  it  was  no  part  of  Monroe's  plan  to  press  the  matter  for 
a  decision.  "It  will  be  best,"  so  he  wi'ote  to  Jefferson,  "to 
postpone  this  for  the  present ;  its  adoption  must  depend  on  the 
several  legislatures.  It  hath  been  brought  so  far  without  a 
prejudice  against  it.  If  carried  farther  here,  I  fear  prejudices 
will  take  place.  It  proposes  a  radical  change  in  the  whole 
system  of  our  government.  It  can  be  carried  only  by  thorougb 
investigation  and  a  conviction  of  every  citizen  that  it  is  right. 
The  slower  it  moves  on,  therefore,  in  my  opinion,  the  better."  ^ 

Jefferson,  as  he  was  passing  through  Boston  on  his  way  to 
France,  had  shown  pleasure  at  finding  "  the  conviction  grow- 
ing strongly  that  nothing  could  preserve  the  confederacy  unless 
the  bond  of  union,  their  common  council,  should  be  strength- 
ened." f  He  now  made  answer  to  the  urgent  inquiries  of 
Monroe :  "  The  interests  of  the  states  ought  to  be  made  joint 
in  every  possible  instance,  in  order  to  cultivate  tbe  idea  of  our 
being  one  nation,  and  to  multiply  the  instances  in  Vv^hich  the 
people  shall  look  up  to  congress  as  their  head."  He  approved 
Monroe's  report  mthout  reservation ;  but  wished  it  adopted  at 
once,  "  before  the  admission  of  western  states."  J 

Months  passed  away,  bat  still  the  subject  was  not  called  up 
in  congress  ;  and  the  mind  of  Monroe  as  a  southern  statesman 
became  shaken.  The  confederation  seemed  to  him  at  present 
but  little  more  than  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  and  if 
the  right  to  raise  troops  at  pleasure  was  denied,  merely  a  defen- 
sive one.  His  report  would  put  the  commercial  economy  of 
every  state  entirely  and  permanently  into  the  hands  of  the 

on  which  it  "O'as  read  was  certainly  the  28th  of  March.  The  report  of  the  commit- 
tee is  in  the  volume,  "  Reports  of  Committees  on  Increasing;  the  Powers  of  Con- 
gress," p.  125,  with  a  copy  in  print.  The  few  corrections  that  have  been  made  in 
the  copy  are  in  the  handwriting  of  Monroe.  The  State  Dept.  MS.  copy  is  in- 
dorsed :  Report  of  Mr.  Monroe,  Mr.  Spaight,  Mr.  Houston,  Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  King. 
See  1 1  March — to  grant  congress  power  of  regulating  trade.  Entered — read  23 
March  1785.     Tuesday,  April  5,  assigned. 

*  Monroe  to  Jefferson,  New  York,  12  April  1'785. 

f  Jefferson  to  ^ladison,  Boston,  1  July  IVSI. 

^  Jefierson  to  Monroe,  Paris,  IV  June  1VS5.     Jefferson,  i,,  847. 


144    0:tT  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDEEAL  CONVENTIOK  B.n.;  cn.iv. 

Tinioii ;  wliicli  might  then  protect  the  carrying  trade,  and  en- 
courage domestic  industry  by  a  tax  on  foreign  industry.  He 
asked  himself  if  the  carrying  trade  would  increase  the  wealth 
of  the  South  ;  and  he  cited  "  a  Mr.  Smith  on  the  Wealth  of 
I^ations,"  as  having  written  "  that  the  doctrine  of  the  balance 
of  trade  is  a  chimera."  * 

The  southernmost  states  began  to  reason  that  Maryland  had 
a  great  commercial  port,  and,  like  Delaware,  excelled  in  naval 
architecture;  and  these,  joining  the  seven  northern  states, 
might  vote  to  themselves  the  monopoly  of  the  transport  of 
southern  products.  Besides,  Virginia,  more  than  any  other 
state  in  the  union,  was  opposed  to  the  slave-trade  j  and  Vir- 
ginia and  all  north  of  her  might  join  in  its  absolute  prohibi- 
tion. The  three  more  southern  states  were,  therefore,  unwill- 
ing to  trust  a  navigation  act  to  the  voice  even  of  ten ;  and  in 
his  report  Monroe  substituted  eleven  states  for  his  first  pro- 
posal of  nine.f 

At  last,  on  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  of  July,  the  re" 
port  was  considered  in  a  committee  of  the  whole.  It  was  held 
that  the  regulation  of  trade  by  the  union  was  desirable,  because 
it  would  open  a  way  to  encourage  domestic  industry  by 
imposing  a  tax  upon  foreign  manufactures;'  because  it  was 
needed  in  order  to  secure  reciprocity  in  commercial  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations ;  because  it  would  counteract  external 
commercial  influence  by  establishing  a  commercial  interest  at 
home ;  and  because  it  would  prepare  the  way  for  a  navy. 
These  ends  could  never  be  obtained  unless  the  states  should 
act  in  concert,  for  their  separate  regulations  would  impede  and 
defeat  each  other. 

The  opponents  of  the  measure  left  their  cause  in  the  hands 
of  Kichard  Henry  Lee,  as  their  only  spokesman  ;  and  his  ma- 
ture age,  courteous  manner,  skill  as  an  orator  and  debater,  and 
his  rank  as  president  of  congress,  gave  him  great  authority. 
He  insisted  that  the  new  grant  of  power  would  endanger  pub- 
lic liberty ;  that  it  would  be  made  subservient  to  further  at- 
tempts to  enlarge  the  authority  of  the  government ;  that  the 
concentration  of  the  control  of  commerce  would  put  the  coun- 
try more  in  the  power  of  other  nations ;   that  the  interests  of 

*  Monroe  to  Jefferson,  ]6  June  HSS.  f  Monroe  to  Madison,  2G  Julj  1785. 


1785.    EEGULATIOX  OF   COMMERCE.    FIFTH   CONGRESS.    145 

the  North  were  different  from  the  interests  of  the  Sonth ;  that 
the  regulation  of  trade  which  suited  the  one  would  not  suit  the 
other ;  that  eight  states  were  interested  in  the  carrying  trade, 
and  would  combine  together  to  shackle  and  fetter  the  ^ye 
southern  states,  which,  without  having  shipping  of  their  own, 
raised  the  chief  staples  for  exportation ;  and,  finally,  that  any 
attempt  whatever  at  a  change  in  the  articles  of  confederation 
had  a  tendency  to  weaken  the  union. 

In  these  objections  Lee  was  consistent.  He  pressed  upon 
Madison,  vath  earnest  frankness,  that  power  in  congress  to 
legislate  over  the  trade  of  the  union  would  expose  the  five 
staple  states,  from  their  want  of  ships  and  seamen,  to  a  most 
pernicious  and  destructive  monopoly ;  that  even  the  purchase, 
as  well  as  the  carrying,  of  their  produce,  might  be  at  the  mercy 
of  the  East  and  the  l!^orth ;  and  that  the  spirit  of  commerce 
throughout  the  world  is  a  spirit  of  avarice.* 

A  plan  of  a  navigation  act  originated  with  McHenry  of 
Maryland ;  but  it  came  before  congress  only  as  a  subject  of 
conversation.  Nothing  was  done  with  the  report  of  Monroe, 
who  said  of  it :  "  The  longer  it  is  delayed,  the  more  certain  is 
its  passage  through  the  several  states  ultimately ; "  f  and  his 
committee  only  asked  leave  to  sit  again.  "  "We  have  nothing 
pleasing  in  prospect,"  wrote  Jacob  Read  to  Madison ;  "  and,  if 
in  a  short  time  the  states  do  not  enable  congress  to  act  with 
vigor  and  put  the  power  of  compulsion  into  the  hand  of  the 
union,  I  think  it  almost  time  to  give  over  the  form  of  what  I 
cannot  consider  as  an  efficient  government.  We  want,  greatly 
want,  the  assistance  of  your  abilities  and  experience  in  con- 
gress ;  one  cannot  help  drawing  comparisons  between  the  lan- 
guage of  1783  and  1785."  J 

From  the  delegation  of  Yirginia  no  hope  could  spring; 
but  the  state  which  exceeded  all  others  in  the  number  of  its 
freemen  and  in  age  was  second  only  to  the  Old  Dominion,  had 
directed  its  delegates  to  present  to  congress,  and  through  con- 
gress to  the  states,  an  invitation  to  meet  in  a  convention  and 

*  R.  n.  Lee  to  Madison,  11  August  lYSS.  Rives,  ii.,  31,  32.  Compare  Monroe 
to  Madison,  26  July  1785. 

\  Monroe  to  Jefferson,  15  August  IVSS. 

:J:  Jacob  Read  of  South  Carolina  to  Madison,  29  August  1785. 

YOL.    VI. — 10 


146    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONYENTIOK  n.  n. ;  oh.  it. 

revise  the  confederation.  And  now  Gerrj,  Holten,  and  Rufus 
King  saw  fit  to  disobey  their  instmctions,  and  suppressed  the 
acts  and  resolves  of  Massachusetts,  writing ;  "  Any  alteration 
of  the  confederation  is  premature ;  the  grant  of  commercial 
power  should  be  temporary,  like  the  proposed  treaties  with 
European  powers ;  and  for  its  adoption  should  depend  on  an 
experience  of  its  beneficial  results.  Power  over  commerce, 
once  delegated  to  the  confederation,  can  never  be  revoked  but 
by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  states.  To  seek  a  reform 
through  a  convention  is  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  congress, 
and,  as  a  manifestation  of  a  want  of  confidence  in  them,  must 
meet  their  disapprobation.  A  further  question  arises  whether 
the  convention  should  revise  the  constitution  generally  or  only 
for  express  purposes.  Each  of  the  states  in  forming  its  own^ 
as  well  as  the  federal  constitution,  has  adopted  republican  prin- 
ciples ;  yet  plans  have  been  laid  which  would  have  changed 
our  republican  government  into  baleful  aristocracies.  The 
same  sj)irit  remains  in  their  abettors.  The  institution  of  the 
Cincinnati  will  have  the  same  tendency.  The  rotation  of  mem- 
bers is  the  best  check  to  corruption.  The  requirement  of  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  legislatures  of  the  states  for  altering 
the  confederation  effectually  prevents  innovations  by  intrigue 
or  surprise.  The  cry  for  more  power  in  congress  comes  espe- 
cially from  those  whose  views  are  extended  to  an  aristocracy 
that  will  afEord  lucrative  employments,  civil  and  military,  and 
require  a  standing  army,  pensioners,  and  placemen.  The  pres- 
ent confederation  is  preferable  to  the  risk  of  general  dissen- 
sions and  animosities."  * 

Bowdoin  replied :  "  If  in  the  union  discordant  principles 
make  it  hazardous  to  intrust  congress  with  powers  necessary  to 
its  well-being,  the  union  cannot  long  subsist."  f  Gerry  and 
King  rejoined:  "The  best  and  surest  mode  of  obtaining  an 
addition  to  the  powers  of  congress  is  to  make  the  powers  tem- 
porary in  the  first  instance.  If  a  convention  of  the  states  is 
necessary,  its  members  should  be  confined  to  the  revision  of 

*  Tills  paper,  and  a  letter  which  preceded  it  of  18  August  1785,  I  found  only 
as  copied  into  the  Letter  Book  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Letter  Book,  viii.,  204,  205,  210-213. 

f  Bowdoia  to  Massachusetts  Delegates  in  Congress,  24  October  1'7&5. 


1785.    EEGULATICN   OF   COMMERCE.    FIFTH   CONGRESS.    147 

such  parts  of  the  confederation  as  are  supposed  defective  ;  and 
not  intrusted  with  a  general  revision  of  the  articles  and  the 
right  to  report  a  plan  of  federal  government  essentially  differ- 
ent from  the  republican  form  now  administered."  * 

These  letters  of  Gerry  and  King  met  with  the  concurrence 
of  Samuel  Adaras,f  and  had  so  much  weight  with  the  general 
court  as  to  stay  its  further  action.  Nor  did  the  evil  end  there. 
All  the  arOTments  and  insinuations  aorainst  a  new  constitution 
as  sure  to  supersede  republican  government  by  a  corrupt  and 
wastef  q1  aristocracy,  were  carried  into  every  village  in  Massa- 
chusetts, as  the  persistent  judgment  of  their  representatives  in 
congress  with  the  assent  of  the  home  legislature. 

It  remained  to  see  if  anything  could  come  from  negotia- 
tions in  Europe.  A  treaty  with  England  was  in  importance 
paramount  to  all  others.  In  ITS 3  Adams  with  Jay  had  crossed 
the  channel  to  England,  but  had  been  received  with  coldness. 
The  assent  of  the  United  States  to  the  definitive  treaty  of 
peace  was  long  delayed  by  the  difficulty  of  assembling  in  con- 
gress nine  states  for  its  confirmation.  At  length,  on  the  twelfth 
of  May  1784,  the  exchange  of  ratifications  took  place  at  Paris. 
The  way  being  thus  opened,  the  three  American  commissioners 
for  negotiating  treaties — Franklin,  John  Adams,  and  Jefferson 
— informed  the  duke  of  Dorset,  then  British  ambassador  at 
Paris,  that  they  had  fall  powers  to  negotiate  a  commercial 
treaty  with  Great  Britain,  and  for  that  end  were  ready  to  repair 
to  London.  The  British  government  consulted  the  English 
merchants  trading  with  North  America ;  and  near  the  end  of 
March  of  the  following  year  the  duke  answered :  "  I  have 
been  instructed  to  learn  from  you,  gentlemen,  what  is  the  real 
nature  of  the  powei's  with  which  you  are  invested ;  whether 
you  are  merely  commissioned  by  congress,  or  have  received 
separate  powers  from  the  separate  states.  The  apparent  deter- 
mination of  the  respective  states  to  regulate  their  own  separate 
interests  renders  it  absolutely  necessary,  toward  forming  a  per- 
manent system  of  commerce,  that  my  court  should  be  inf ornied 
how  far  the  commissioners  can  be  duly  authorized  to  enter  into 

*  Gerry  and  King  to  Governor  Bowdoin,  2  November  1785. 
f  Adams  to  Gerry,  19  September  1785,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  Gerry  of  5 
September. 


148    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  ch.iv. 

any  engagements  with  Great  Britain,  wliicli  it  may  not  be  in 
the  power  of  any  one  of  the  states  to  render  totally  fruitless 
and  ineffectual.'' 

"When  Franklin,  taking  with  him  the  love  of  France,*  pre- 
pared to  sail  for  America,  congress,  breaking  up  their  trium- 
viral  commission  in  Europe,  appointed  Jefferson  to  be  minister 
to  France,  John  Adams  to  Great  Britain.  Adams  gave  the 
heartiest  welcome  to  his  "  old  friend  and  coadjutor,"  in  whom 
he  found  undiminished  "industry,  intelligence,  and  talents," 
and,  full  of  courage  if  not  of  hope,  hastened  to  London.  On 
the  first  day  of  June  Lord  Carmarthen,  the  secretary  of  state, 
presented  him  to  the  king.  Delivering  his  credentials,  he  in 
perfect  sincerity  declared :  "  I  shall  esteem  myself  the  happiest 
of  men  if  I  can  be  instrumental  in  recommending  my  country 
more  and  more  to  your  Majesty's  royal  benevolence,  and  of 
restoring  the  old  good  nature  and  the  old  good  humor  between 
people  who,  though  separated  by  an  ocean  and  under  different 
governments,  have  the  same  language,  a  similar  religion,  and 
kindred  blood." 

The  king  answered  with  more  tremor  than  the  bold  repub- 
lican had  shown :  "  I  wish  it  understood  in  America  that  I 
have  done  nothing  in  the  late  contest  but  what  I  thought  my- 
self indispensably  bound  to  do  by  the  duty  which  I  owed  to 
my  people.  I  will  be  very  frank  with  you.  I  was  the  last  to 
consent  to  the  separation;  but,  the  separation  having  been 
made,  I  have  always  said,  as  I  say  now,  that  I  would  be  the 
first  to  meet  the  friendship  of  the  United  States  as  an  independ- 
ent power.  The  moment  I  see  such  sentiments  and  language 
as  yours  prevail,  and  a  disposition  to  give  to  this  country  the 
preference,  that  moment  I  shall  say,  let  the  circumstances  of 
language,  religion,  and  blood  have  their  natural  and  full  ef- 
fect." f 

The  suggestion  of  a  preference  by  treaty  was  out  of  place. 
The  Enghsh  had  it  without  a  treaty  by  their  skill,  the  recipro- 
cal confidence  of  the  merchants  of  the  two  nations,  and  the 
habits  of  the  Americans  who  were  accustomed  only  to  the  con- 
sumption of  British  goods.     But  a  change  had  come  over  the 

*  Rayneval  to  Franklin,  8  May  1785.     Diplomatic  Correspondence,  ii.,  47. 
f  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  iv.,  200,  201. 


1785.    REGULATI02^  OF  COMMERCE.    FIFTH  CONGRESS.    149 

spirit  of  England.  Before  the  end  of  three  years  of  peace,  all 
respect  and  regard  for  America  were  changed  into  bitter  dis- 
content at  its  independence,  and  a  disbelief  in  its  capacity  to 
establish  a  firm  government.  The  national  judgment  and 
popular  voice,  as  expressed  in  pamphlets,  newspapers,  coffee- 
houses, the  streets,  and  in  both  houses  of  parliament,  had 
grown  into  an  unchangeable  determination  to  maintain  against 
them  the  navigation  acts  and  protective  duties,  and  neither  the 
administration  nor  the  opposition  had  a  thought  of  relaxing 
them.  Great  Britain  was  sure  of  its  power  of  attracting 
American  commerce,  and  believed  that  the  American  states 
were  not,  and  never  could  be,  united.  All  this  had  been  so 
often  affirmed  by  the  refugees,  and  Englishmen  had  so  often 
repeated  them  to  one  another,  that  to  argue  against  it  was  like 
breathing  against  a  trade  wind.  "I  may  reason  till  I  die  to 
no  purpose,"*  wrote  Adams;  "it  is  unanimity  in  America 
which  will  produce  a  fair  treaty  of  commerce."  Yet  he  pre- 
sented to  Carmarthen  a  draft  of  one,  though  without  hope  of 
success.  It  rested  on  principles  of  freedom  and  reciprocity, 
and  the  principles  of  the  armed  neutrality  with  regard  to  neu- 
tral vessels. 

Like  Franklin,  like  Jefferson,  like  Madison,  he  was  at  heart 
for  free  trade.  "  I  should  be  sorry,"  said  he  to  his  friend  Jef- 
ferson, "  to  adopt  a  monopoly,  but,  driven  to  the  necessity  of 
it,  I  would  not  do  things  by  halves."  f  "  If  monopoHes  and 
exclusions  are  the  only  arms  of  defence  against  monopolies  and 
exclusions,  I  would  venture  upon  them  without  fear  of  offend- 
ing Dean  Tucker  or  the  ghost  of  Doctor  Quesnay."  "But 
means  of  preserving  ourselves  can  never  be  secured  until  con- 
gress shall  be  made  supreme  in  foreign  commerce."  X 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  August,  when  the  adjournment  of 
parliament  brought  leisure,  Adams,  then  fifty  years  of  age,  met 
the  youthful  prime  minister  of  Britain.  Pitt,  as  any  one  may 
see  in  his  portrait  at  Kensington,  had  in  his  nature  far  more  of 
his  mother  than  of  the  great  Englishman  who  was  his  father. 
He  had  pride,  but  suffered  from  a  feebleness  of  will  which  left 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  26  June  1785.     Works,  viii.,  2l&. 

\  Adams  to  Jefferson,  V  August  1785.     Works,  -viii.,  292. 

X  Adams  to  John  Jay,  10  August,  ibid.,  299,  300. 


150  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,   b.ii.;  oh.iv. 

him  the  prej  of  inferior  men.  His  own  chosen  measures  were 
noble  ones — peace,  commercial  relations  with  France,  the  im- 
provement of  the  public  finances,  the  payment  of  the  national 
debt.  In  the  ministry  of  Shelburne,  he  had  brought  in  a  bill 
to  promote  commerce  with  America  by  modifjdng  the  naviga- 
tion act ;  in  his  own  lie  abandoned  the  hopeless  attem]3t. 

Reverting  to  the  treaty  of  commerce  which  Adams  had 
proposed,  Pitt  asked :  ^'  What  are  the  lowest  terms  which  will 
content  America  ? "  Adams  replied  that  the  project  he  had 
communicated  would  secure  the  friendship  of  the  United  States 
and  all  the  best  part  of  their  trade ;  the  public  mind  of  Amer- 
ica is  balancing  between  free  trade  and  a  navigation  act ;  and 
the  question  will  be  decided  now  by  England;  but  if  the 
Americans  are  driven  to  a  navigation  act,  they  will  become 
attached  to  the  system.  "  The  United  States,"  answered  Pitt, 
"  are  forever  become  a  foreign  nation  ;  our  navigation  act  would 
not  answer  its  end  if  we  should  dispense  with  it  toward  you." 
"  The  end  of  the  navigation  act,"  replied  Adams,  "  was  to  con- 
fine the  commerce  of  the  colonies  to  the  mother  country ;  if 
carried  into  execution  against  us,  now  that  we  are  become  in- 
dependent, instead  of  confining  our  trade  to  Great  Britain,  it 
will  drive  it  to  other  countries."  "  You  allow  we  have  a  right 
to  impose  on  you  our  navigation  act,"  said  Pitt.  "  Certainly," 
answered  Adams,  "  and  you  will  allow  we  have  a  correspond- 
ing right."  "  You  cannot  blame  Englishmen,"  said  Pitt,  "for 
being  attached  to  their  ships  and  seamen."  "  Indeed,  I  do 
not,"  answered  Adams ;  "  nor  can  you  blame  Americans  for 
being  attached  to  theirs."  Pitt  then  asked  plainly  :  "  Can  yon 
grant  by  treaty  to  England  advantages  which  would  not  be- 
come immediately  the  right  of  France  ? "  "  We  cannot,"  an- 
swered Adams :  "  to  the  advantage  granted  to  England  with- 
out a  compensation  France  w^ould  be  entitled  without  a  com- 
pensation ;  if  an  equivalent  is  stipulated  for,  France,  to  claim 
it,  must  allow  us  the  same  equivalent."  Pitt  then  put  the  ques- 
tion :  "  What  do  you  think  that  Great  Britain  ought  to  do  ? " 
And  Adams  answered :  "  This  country  ought  to  prescribe  to 
herself  no  other  rule  than  to  receive  from  America  everything 
she  can  send  as  a  remittance ;  in  which  case  America  wiU  take 
as  much  of  British  productions  as  she  can  pay  for." 


1785.    REGULATI0:N'  of  commerce,    fifth  congress.    151 

There  were  mutual  complaints  of  failure  in  observing  the 
conditions  of  the  peace.  Pitt  frankly  declared  "  the  carrying 
oS.  of  negroes  to  be  so  clearly  against  the  treaty  that  England 
must  satisfy  that  demand ; "  but  he  took  no  step  toward  sat- 
isfying it.  The  British  government,  yielding  to  the  impor- 
tunity of  merchants,  and  especially  of  fur- traders,  kept  posses- 
sion of  the  American  posts  at  the  West.  This  was  a  con- 
tinuance of  war ;  but  Pitt  excused  it  on  the  ground  that,  in 
Virginia  and  at  least  two  other  states,  hindrances  still  remained 
in  the  way  of  British  creditors.  Congress  was  sincere  in  its 
efforts  to  obtain  for  them  relief  in  the  courts  of  the  states  ;  but 
it  wanted  power  to  enforce  its  requisitions.  Moreover,  the 
Yirginia  legislature,  not  without  a  ground  of  equity,  delayed 
judgment  against  the  Yirginia  debtors  until  an  offset  could  be 
made  of  the  indemnity  which  Pitt  liimself  had  owned  to  be 
due  to  them  for  property  carried  away  by  the  British  in  disre- 
gard of  the  treaty  of  peace.  The  holding  of  the  western  posts 
had  no  connection  with  this  debt  and  no  proportion  to  it ;  for 
the  profits  of  the  fur  trade,  thus  secured  to  Great  Britain,  in 
each  single  year  very  far  exceeded  the  whole  debt  of  which 
the  collection  was  postponed. 

The  end  of  the  interviev/  was,  that  Pitt  enforced  the  navi- 
gation acts  of  England  against  America  with  unmitigated  se- 
verity. For  the  western  posts,  Haldimand,  as  his  last  act,  had 
strengthened  the  garrison  at  Oswego,  and  charged  his  suc- 
cessor to  exclude  the  Americans  from  the  enormously  remu- 
nerative commerce  in  furs  by  restricting  transportation  on 
the  lakes  to  British  vessels  alone.*  In  February  of  the  next 
year,  the  British  secretary  of  state  announced  that  the  posts 
would  be  retained  till  justice  should  be  done  to  British  cred- 
itors, t 

"  They  mean,"  wrote  Adams,  "  that  Americans  should  have 
no  ships,  nor  sailors,  to  annoy  their  trade."  "  Patience  will  do 
no  good ;  nothing  but  reciprocal  prohibitions  and  imposts  will 
have  any  effect."  He  counselled  the  United  States  as  their 
only  reso  irce  to  confine  their  exports  to  their  own  shij)S  and 

*  Haldimand  to  St.  Loger,  November  1YS4  ;  Sidney  to  St.  Leger,  30  April  ITSS, 
and  other  letters  of  the  like  tenor. 

f  Carmarthen  to  Adams,  28  February  1786. 


152  ON"  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  C0NVENTI02T.  b.ii.;  ch.  iv. 

encourage  their  own  manufactures,  though  he  foresaw  that 
these  measures  would  so  annoy  England  as  in  a  few  years  to 
bring  on  the  danger  of  war.  * 

The  French  government  could  not  be  induced  to  change  its 
commercial  system  for  the  sake  of  pleasing  the  United  States ; 
it  granted  free  ports ;  but  the  Americans  wanted  not  places  of 
deposit  for  their  staples,  but  an  open  market.  On  one  point 
only  did  Yergennes  bestow  anxious  attention.  He  feared  the 
United  States  might  grant  favors  to  England ;  and,  at  the  re- 
quest of  France,  congress,  when  preparing  to  treat  with  the 
nations  of  Europe,  gave  assurance  that  it  would  "place  no 
people  on  more  advantageous  ground  than  the  subjects  of  his 
most  Christian  Majesty."  Through  the  French  envoy  in 
America,  Yergennes  answered :  "  This  declaration,  founded 
on  the  treaty  of  the  sixth  of  February  1778,  is  very  agree- 
able to  the  king ;  and  you  can  assure  congress  that  the  United 
States  shall  constantly  experience  a  perfect  recijDrocity  in 
France."  f 

Jefferson,  as  minister,  obtained  a  great  reduction  of  the 
duty  on  American  oil  manufactured  from  fish ; ;}:  but  he  was 
compelled  to  hear  thrice  over  complaints  that  the  trade  of 
the  United  States  had  not  learned  the  way  to  France ;  and 
thrice  over  that  the  French  government  could  not  depend  on 
engagements  taken  with  the  United  States.  Complaints,  too, 
were  made  of  the  navigation  acts  of  Massachusetts  and  'New 
Hampshire,  not  without  hints  at  retaliation. 

While  some  of  the  states  of  Europe  forgot  their  early  zeal 
to  form  commercial  relations  with  the  United  States,  the  con- 
vention for  ten  years  with  Frederic  of  Prussia,  to  whose  dis- 
patch, intelligence,  and  decision  Adams  bore  witness,  was  com- 
pleted in  May  1785,  and  in  the  following  May  was  unani- 
mously ratified  by  congress.  Free  vessels  made  free  goods. 
Arms,  ammunition,  and  military  stores  were  taken  out  of  the 
class  of  contraband.  In  case  of  war  between  these  two  parties, 
merchant  vessels  were  still  to  pass  unmolested.  Privateering 
was  pronounced  a  form  of  piracy.     Citizens  of  the  one  country 

*  Adams  to  Jay,  30  August  and  15  October  lYSS.     Works,  viiL,  313  and  321. 
f  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  ii.,  33,  34,  35. 
.•}:Ibid.,ii.,  491,492. 


1785.    REGULATION  OF  COMMERCE.     FIFTH  CONGRESS.    153 

domiciled  in  the  otlier  were  to  enjoy  freedom  of  conscience 
and  worship,  and,  in  case  of  war  between  the  two  parties, 
might  still  continue  their  respective  employments. 

Spain  had  anxieties  with  respect  to  its  future  relations  with 
America,  and  thought  proper  to  accredit  an  agent  to  congress ; 
but  neither  with  Spain,  nor  with  France,  nor  with  England 
was  there  the  least  hope  of  forming  liberal  commercial  relations. 
American  diplomacy  had  failed ;  the  attempt  of  the  fifth  con- 
gress to  take  charge  of  commerce  had  failed ;  the  movement  for 
a  federal  convention,  which  was  desired  by  the  mercantile  class 
throughout  the  union,  had  failed ;  but  encouragement  came  from 
South  Carolina.  William  Moultrie,  its  governor,  gave  support 
to  Bowdoin  of  Massachusetts,  saying :  "  The  existence  of  this 
state  with  every  other  as  a  nation  depends  on  the  strength  of 
the  union.  Cemented  together  in  one  common  interest,  they 
are  invincible ;  divided,  they  must  fall  a  sacrifice  to  internal 
dissensions  and  foreign  usurpations."  *  The  heart  of  American 
statesmen  beat  high  with  hope  and  resolution.  "  It  is  my  first 
wish,"  wrote  Jay,  the  American  secretary  for  foreign  affairs, 
in  1785,  "  to  see  the  United  States  assume  and  merit  the  charac- 
ter of  ONE  GREAT  NATioiN'."  f  "  It  has  cvcr  been  my  hobby- 
horse," wrote  John  Adams  early  in  1786,  while  minister 
of  the  United  States  in  England,  "to  see  rising  in  Amer- 
ica an  empire  of  liberty,  and  a  prospect  of  two  or  three  hun- 
dred millions  of  freemen,  without  one  noble  or  one  king 
among  them."  :j: 

The  confederation  framed  a  treaty  with  the  emperor  of 
Morocco  ;  it  was  not  rich  enough  to  buy  immunity  for  its  ships 
from  the  corsair  powers  of  Barbary. 

Through  congress  no  hope  for  the  regeneration  of  the 
union  could  be  cherished.  Before  we  look  for  the  light  that 
may  rise  outside  of  that  body,  it  will  be  well  to  narrate  what 
real  or  seeming  obstacles  to  union  were  removed  or  quieted, 
and  what  motives  compelling  the  forming  of  a  new  constitu- 
tion sprung  from  the  impairment  of  the  obligation  of  contracts 
by  the  states. 

*  Moultrie  to  Bowdoin,  10  September  11S5. 

f  Life  of  John  Jay  by  his  son,  i.,  190. 

:{:  The  Life  and  Works  of  John  Adams,  ix.,  546. 


151-  0^  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTIOK  b.ii.:  oh.  v. 


CIIAPTEE  Y. 

OBSTACLES    TO    U^IOIT   REMOVED   Olt    QUIETED. 

1783-1787. 

The  early  confederacy  of  I^ew  England,  thongli  all  its  colo- 
nies were  non-conformists,  refused  fellowship  to  Rhode  Island 
on  account  of  its  variance  in  dissent.  Yirginia  and  Maryland 
were  settled  in  connection  with  the  church  of  England,  which 
at  the  period  of  the  revolution  was  still  the  established  church 
of  them  both.  In  the  constitution  of  the  Carolinas  the  philoso- 
pher Locke  introduced  a  clause  for  the  disfranchisement  of 
the  atheist,  not  considering  that  the  power  in  the  magistrate  to 
inflict  a  penalty  on  atheism  implied  the  power  which  doomed 
Socrates  to  drink  poison  and  filled  the  catacombs  of  Rome 
with  the  graves  of  martyrs.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Baptists, 
nurslings  of  adversity,  driven  by  persecution  to  find  resources 
within  their  ow^n  souls,  when  they  came  to  found  a  state  in 
America,  rested  it  on  the  truth  that  the  spirit  and  the  mind 
are  not  subordinate  to  the  temporal  power.  For  the  great 
central  state,  the  people  called  Quakers  in  like  manner  affirmed 
the  right  to  spiritual  and  intellectual  liberty,  and  denied  to  the 
magistrate  all  control  over  the  support  of  religion.  To  form  a 
perfect  political  union  it  was  necessary,  in  all  that  relates  to  re- 
ligion, that  state  should  not  be  in  conflict  with  state,  and  that 
every  citizen,  in  the  exercise  of  his  rights  of  intercitizenship, 
should  be  at  his  ease  in  any  state  in  which  he  might  sojourn  or 
abide.  In  a  repnblican  country  of  wide  extent,  ideas  rule  legis- 
lation; and  the  history  of  reform  is  the  history  of  thought, 
gaining  strength  as  it  passes  from  mind  to  mind,  till  it  finds  a 
place  in  a  statute.     We  have  now  to  see  how  it  came  to  pass 


1783-1787.         OBSTACLES   TO   UNION"  KEMOVED.  155 

that  tlie  oldest  state  in  the  union,  first  in  territory  and  in  num- 
bers, and,  from  its  origin,  the  upholder  of  an  established 
church,  renounced  the  support  of  religious  worship  by  law, 
and  esiablished  the  largest  liberty  of  conscience. 

The  legislature  of  Virginia,  within  a  half  year  after  the 
declaration  of  independence,  while  it  presented  for  public  con- 
sideration the  idea  of  a  general  assessment  for  the  support  of 
the  Christian  religion,"^  exempted  dissenters  from  contributions 
to  the  established  church.  In  1770  this  exemption  was  ex- 
tended to  churchmen,  so  that  the  church  was  disestablished. 
But  the  law  for  religious  freedom,  which  Jefferson  prepared 
as  a  i^art  of  the  revised  code,  was  submitted  to  the  deliberate 
reflection  of  the  people  before  the  vote  should  be  taken  for  its 
adoption. 

The  Massachusetts  constitution  of  1780  compelled  every 
member  of  its  legislature  on  taking  his  seat  to  subscribe  a 
declaration  that  he  believed  the  Christian  religion.  This  reg- 
ulation Joseph  Hawley,  who  had  been  elected  to  the  first 
senate  of  Massachusetts,  in  a  letter  to  that  body,  sternly  con- 
demned. A  member  of  the  Congregational  church  of  !North- 
ampton,  severe  in  his  morality,  and  of  unquestioned  ortho- 
doxy, he  called  to  mind  that  the  founders  of  Massachusetts- 
while  church  membership  was  their  condition  for  granting  the 
privilege  of  an  elector,  never  suffered  a  profession  of  the 
Christian  religion  to  be  made  before  a  temporal  court.  More- 
over, he  held  the  new  requirement  to  be  against  common  right 
and  the  natural  franchises  of  every  member  of  the  common- 
wealth, f  In  this  way,  from  the  heart  of  rigid  Calvinism  a 
protest  was  heard  against  any  right  in  the  temporal  power  to 
demand  or  to  receive  a  profession  of  faith  in  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. The  church  member  was  subject  to  no  supervision  but 
of  those  with  whom  he  had  entered  into  covenant.  The  tem- 
poral power  might  punish  the  evil  deed,  but  not  punish  or 
even  search  after  the  thought  of  the  mind. 

The  inherent  perverseness  of  a  religious  establishment,  of 
which  a  king  residing  in  another  part  of  the  world  and  en- 
forcing hostile  political  interests  was  the  head,  showed  itself  in 

*  n^'nirg,  ix.,  165.     Jefferson's  Autobiography. 

f  Joseph  Hawley  to  Massachusetts  Senate,  28  October  1780. 


156    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.ii.;  oh.v. 

Yirginia.  The  majority  of  the  legislators  were  still  cliurcli- 
men  ;  but  gradually  a  decided  majority  of  the  people  had 
become  dissenters,  of  whom  the  foremost  were  Baptists  and 
Presbyterians.  When  the  struggle  for  independence  was  ended, 
of  ninety-one  clergymen  of  the  Anglican  church  in  Yirginia, 
twenty-eight  only  remained.  One  fourth  of  the  parishes  had 
become  extinct. 

Churchmen  began  to  fear  the  enfeeblement  of  religion 
from  its  want  of  compulsory  support  and  from  the  excesses  of 
fanaticism  among  dissenters.  These  last  had  made  their  way, 
not  only  without  aid  from  the  state,  but  under  the  burden  of 
supporting  a  church  which  was  not  their  own.  The  church 
which  had  leaned  on  the  state  was  alone  in  a  decline.  The 
system  of  an  impartial  support  by  the  state  of  all  branches  of 
Christians  was  revived  by  members  of  "the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal church,"  as  it  now  began  to  be  called.  Their  petitions? 
favored  by  Patrick  Henry,  Harrison,  then  governor,  Pendle- 
ton, the  chancellor,  Pichard  Henry  Lee,  and  many  others  of 
the  foremost  men,  alleged  a  decay  of  public  morals ;  and  the 
remedy  ashed  for  was  a  general  assessment,  analogous  to  the 
clause  in  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts  which  enjoined 
upon  its  towns  "  the  maintenance  of  pubHc  Protestant  teachers 
of  piety,  religion,  and  morality."  * 

The  Presbyterians  at  first  were  divided.  Their  clergy,  even 
while  they  held  that  human  legislation  should  concern  human 
affairs  alone,  that  conscience  and  religious  w^orship  lie  beyond 
its  reach,  accepted  the  measure,  provided  it  should  respect 
every  human  belief,  even  "of  the  Mussulman  and  the  Gen- 
too."  The  Presbyterian  laity,  accustomed  to  support  their 
own  ministry,  chose  rather  to  continue  to  do  so.  Of  the  Bap- 
tists, alike  ministers  and  people  rejected  any  alHance  with  the 
state. 

Early  in  the  autumnal  session  of  the  legislature  of  1785, 
Patrick  Henry  proposed  a  resolution  for  a  legal  provision  for 
the  teachers  of  the  Christian  religion.  In  the  absence  of  Jeffer- 
son, the  opponents  of  the  measure  were  led  by  Madison,  whom 
Witherspoon  had  imbued  with  theological  lore.  The  assess- 
ment bill,  he  said,  exceeds  the  functions  of  civil  authority. 

*  Massachusetts  Declaration  of  Rights,  Article  III.  of  1780 


1783-1787.        OBSTACLES   TO   UNIOiT  REMOVED.  157 

The  question  has  been  stated  as  if  it  were,  is  religion  neces- 
sary ?  The  true  question  is,  are  establishments  necessary  for 
religion  ?  And  the  answer  is,  they  corrupt  religion.  The  dif- 
ficulty of  providing  for  the  support  of  religion  is  the  result  of 
the  war,  to  be  remedied  by  voluntary  association  for  religious 
purposes.  In  the  event  of  a  statute  for  the  support  of  the 
Christian  religion,  are  the  courts  of  law  to  decide  what  is 
Christianity  ?  and,  as  a  consequence,  to  decide  what  is  ortho- 
doxy and  what  is  heresy  ?  The  enforced  support  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  dishonors  Christianity.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  the 
opposition  that  could  be  mustered,  leave  to  bring  in  the  bill 
was  granted  by  forty-seven  votes  against  thirty-two.*  The 
bill,  when  reported,  prescribed  a  general  assessment  on  all  tax- 
able property  for  the  support  of  teachers  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. Each  person,  as  he  paid  his  tax,  was  to  say  to  which 
society  he  dedicated  it ;  in  case  he  refused  to  do  so,  his  pay- 
ment was  to  be  applied  toward  the  maintenance  of  a  county 
school.  On  the  third  reading  the  bill  received  a  check,  and 
was  ordered  by  a  small  majority  to  be  printed  and  distributed 
for  the  consideration  of  the  people.  Thus  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia had  before  them  for  their  choice  the  bill  of  the  revised 
code  for  establishing  religious  freedom,  and  the  plan  of  de- 
sponding churchmen  for  supporting  religion  by  a  general 
assessment. 

All  the  state,  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains  and  beyond 
them,  was  alive  with  the  discussion.  Madison,  in  a  remon- 
strance addressed  to  the  legislature,  imbodied  all  that  could  be 
said  against  the  compulsory  maintenance  of  Christianity  and 
in  behalf  of  religious  freedom  as  a  natural  right,  the  glory  of 
Christianity  itself,  the  surest  method  of  supporting  religion, 
and  the  only  way  to  produce  moderation  and  harmony  among 
its  several  sects.  George  Mason,  who  was  an  enthusiast  for 
entire  freedom,  asked  of  "Washington  his  opinion,  and  received 
for  answer  that  "  no  man's  sentiments  were  more  opposed  to 
any  kind  of  restraint  upon  religious  principles."  While  he 
was  not  among  those  who  were  so  much  alarmed  at  the  thought 
of  making  people  of  the  denominations  of  Christians  pay  to- 
ward the  support  of  that  denomination  which  they  professed, 

*  Madison  to  Jefferson,  9  January  1785.     Madison,  L,  130. 


158    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONYEN-TIOK    b.ii.;  on.  v. 

provided  Jews,  Mahometans,  and  others  who  were  not  Chris- 
tians, might  obtain  proper  relief,  his  advice  was  given  in  these 
w^ords :  "  As  the  matter  now  stands,  I  wish  an  assessment  had 
never  been  agitated ;  and,  as  it  has  gone  so  far,  that  the  bill 
could  die  an  easy  death."  * 

The  general  committee  of  the  Baptists  unanimously  ap- 
pointed a  delegate  to  remonstrate  with  the  general  assembly 
against  the  assessment,  and  they  resolved  that  no  human  laws 
ought  to  be  established  for  that  purpose ;  that  every  free  per- 
son ought  to  be  free  in  matters  of  religion,  f  The  general 
convention  of  the  Presbyterian  church  prayed  the  legislature 
expressly  that  the  bill  concerning  religious  freedom  might  be 
passed  into  a  law  as  the  best  safeguard  then  attainable  for  their 
religious  rights.  J 

When  the  legislature  of  Virginia  assembled,  no  one  was 
willing  to  bring  forward  the  assessment  bill,  and  it  was  never 
heard  of  more.  Out  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  articles  of 
the  revised  code  which  v/ere  then  reported,  Madison  selected 
for  immediate  consideration  the  one  which  related  to  religious 
freedom.  The  people  of  Virginia  had  held  it  under  delibera- 
tion for  six  years ;  in  December  1785  it  passed  the  house  by  a 
vote  of  nearly  four  to  one.  Attempts  in  the  senate  for  amend- 
ment produced  only  insignificant  changes  in  the  preamble,  and 
on  the  sixteenth  of  January  1786  Virginia  placed  among  its 
statutes  the  very  words  of  the  original  draft  by  Jefferson  with 
the  hope  that  they  would  endure  forever:  ^''No  man  shall 
be  compelled  to  frequent  or  support  any  religious  worship, 
place,  or  ministry  whatsoever,  nor  shall  suffer  on  account  of 
his  religious  opinions  or  belief ;  opinion  in  matters  of  religion 
shall  in  no  wise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  civil  capacities. 
The  rights  hereby  asserted  are  of  the  natural  rights  of  man- 
kind." # 

"  Thus,"  says  Madison,  "  in  Virginia  was  extinguished  for- 
ever the  ambitious  hope  of  making  laws  for  the  human  mind." 
The  principle  on  which  religious  liberty  was  settled  in  Virginia 
prevailed  at  once  in   Maryland.     In   every  other  American 

*  Washington  to  George  Mason,  3  October  1785.     Sparks,  ix.,  137. 
f  Semple's  History  of  the  Baptists,  etc.,  71 ;  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia, 
844  X  Madison,  i.,  213.  »  Hening,  xii.,  86. 


1783-1787.        OBSTACLES   TO  UNION  EEMOVED.  159 

state  oppressive  statutes  concerning  religion  fell  into  disuse  and 
were  gradually  repealed.  Survivals  may  still  be  found,  as  in 
nature  we  in  this  day  meet  with  survivals  of  an  earlier  geo- 
logical period.  It  had  been  foreseen  that  ''  the  happy  conse- 
quences of  the  grand  experiment  on  the  advantages  which 
accompany  tolerance  and  liberty  would  not  be  limited  to 
America."  *  The  statute  of  Virginia,  translated  into  French 
and  into  Italian,  was  widely  circulated  through  Europe.  A 
part  of  the  work  of  "  the  noble  army  of  martyrs  "  was  done. 

During  the  colonial  period  the  Anglican  establishment  was 
feared,  because  its  head  was  an  external  temporal  power  en- 
gaged in  the  suppression  of  colonial  liberties,  and  was  favored 
by  the  officers  of  that  power  even  to  the  disregard  of  justice. 
National  independence  and  religious  freedom  dispelled  the  last 
remnant  of  jealousy.  The  American  branch  at  lirst  thought 
it  possible  to  perfect  their  organization  by  themselves;  but 
they  soon  preferred  as  their  starting-point  a  iinal  fraternal  act 
of  the  church  of  England.  No  part  of  the  country,  no  sect, 
no  person  showed  a  disposition  to  thwart  them  in  their  pur- 
pose ;  and  no  one  complained  of  the  unofficial  agency  of  Jay, 
the  American  minister  of  foreign  affairs  at  home,  and  of  John 
Adams,  the  American  minister  in  London,  in  aid  of  their  de- 
sire, which  required  the  consent  of  the  British  parliament  and 
a  consecration  by  the  Anglican  hierarchy.  Their  wish  having 
been  fulfilled  in  the  form  to  which  all  of  them  gave  assent 
and  which  many  of  them  regarded  as  indispensable,  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  church  of  the  United  States  moved  onward 
with  a  life  of  its  own  to  the  position  which  it  could  never  have 
gained  but  by  independence.  For  America  no  bishop  was  to 
be  chosen  at  the  dictation  of  a  temporal  power  to  electors  un- 
der the  penalty  of  high  treason  for  disobedience ;  no  advowson 
of  church  livings  could  be  tolerated ;  no  room  was  left  for 
simony ;  no  tenure  of  a  ministry  as  a  life  estate  vras  endured 
where  a  sufficient  reason  required  a  change  ;  the  laity  was  not 
represented  by  the  highest  officer  of  state  and  the  legislature, 
but  stood  for  itself ;  no  alteration  of  prayer,  or  creed,  or  gov- 
ernment could  be  introduced  by  the  temporal  chief,  or  by  that 
chief  and  the  legislature.     The  rule  of  the  church  proceeded 

*  Luzerne  to  Rayneval,  6  November  1784. 


160    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.  ii.  ;  oh.  t. 

from  its  own  living  power  representing  all  its  members.  The 
Protestant  Episcopal  congregations  in  the  several  United  States 
of  America,  including  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  v/ho  at  first 
went  a  way  of  their  own,  soon  fell  into  the  custom  of  meeting 
in  convention  as  one  church,  and  gave  a  new  bond  to  union. 
Since  the  year  1Y85  they  have  never  asked  of  any  American 
government  a  share  in  any  general  assessment,  and  have  grown 
into  greatness  by  self-reliance. 

The  acknowledged  independence  of  the  United  States 
called  suddenly  into  a  like  independence  a  new  and  self -created 
rival  Episcopal  church,  destined  to  spread  its  branches  far  and 
wide  over  the  land  with  astonishing  rapidity.  Out  of  a  society 
of  devout  and  studious  scholars  in  the  University  of  Oxford, 
within  less  than  sixty  years,  grew  the  society  of  Methodists. 
As  some  of  the  little  republics  of  ancient  time  selected  one 
man  as  their  law-giver,  as  all  men  on  board  a  ship  trnst  im- 
plicitly to  one  commander  during  the  period  of  the  voyage, 
so  the  Methodist  connection  in  its  beginning  left  to  John  "Wes- 
ley to  rule  them  as  he  would.  Its  oldest  society  in  the  states 
was  at  New  York,  and  of  the  year  1766.  In  177  2  Wesley  ap- 
pointed, as  his  ^'  general  assistant "  in  America,*  Francis  As- 
bury,  a  missionary  from  England,  a  man  from  the  people,  who 
had  "  much  wisdom  and  meekness ;  and  under  all  this,  though 
hardly  to  be  perceived,  much  command  and  authority."  f 

Wesley  never  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  found  a  sepa- 
rate church  within  British  dominions,  and  during  the  war  of 
American  independence  used  his  influence  to  keep  the  societies 
which  he  governed  from  renouncing  their  old  allegiance.  But 
no  sooner  had  the  people  of  the  United  States  been  recognised 
as  a  nation  by  the  king  of  England  himself,  and  the  movement 
to  found  an  American  episcopacy  had  begun,  than  he  burst 
the  bonds  that  in  England  held  him  from  schism,  and  resolved 
to  get  the  start  of  the  English  hierarchy.  In  October  1783, 
in  a  general  epistle,  he  peremptorily  directed  his  American 
brethren  to  receive  "  Francis  Asbury  as  the  general  assistant."  :j: 

For  nearly  forty  years  Wesley  had  been  persuaded  that  the 
apostolical  succession  is  a  "  fable  "  ;  that  "  bishops  and  presby- 

*  Asbury's  Journal,  10  October  1772.  f  Coke's  Journal,  16. 

J  Wesley  to  the  brethren  in  Amex-ica,  3  October  1783. 


1783-1787.         OBSTACLES  TO  UmON  KEMOYED.  161 

ters  are  the  same  order,  and  have  the  same  right  to  ordain." 
He  looked  upon  himself  to  be  as  much  a  bishop  "  as  any  man 
in  Europe,"  though  he  never  allowed  any  one  to  call  him  by 
that  name.  In  his  service  for  the  Methodists  he  substituted 
the  word  elders  for  priests,  and  superintendents  for  bishops. 
He,  therefore,  did  not  scruple,  on  the  second  day  of  Septem- 
ber 1784,  himself,  in  his  own  private  room  at  Bristol,  in  Eng- 
land, assisted  by  Coke  and  another  English  presbyter,  to  or- 
dain two  persons  as  ministers,  and  then  he,  with  the  assistance 
of  other  ministers  ordained  by  himself,  equal  at  least  in  num- 
ber to  the  requisition  of  the  canon,  did,  "  by  the  imposition  of 
his  hands  and  prayer,  set  apart  Thomas  Coke,  a  presbyter  of 
the  church  of  England,  as  a  superintendent,  and,  under  his 
hand  and  seal,  recommended  him  to  whom  it  might  concern 
as  a  fit  person  to  preside  over  the  flock  of  Christ."  It  is  Coke 
himseK  who  writes  of  AYesley :  "  He  did,  indeed,  solemnly 
invest  me,  as  far  as  he  had  a  right  so  to  do,  with  episcopal 
authority."  *  Eight  days  later,  in  a  general  epistle,  he  thus 
addressed  Thomas  Coke,  Francis  Asbury,  and  the  brethren  in 
North  America  :  "  By  a  very  uncommon  train  of  providences, 
provinces  in  North  America  are  erected  into  independent 
states.  The  English  government  has  no  authority  over  them, 
either  civil  or  ecclesiastical.  Bishops  and  presbyters  are  the 
same  order,  and  consequently  of  the  same  right  to  ordain.  In 
America  there  are  no  bishops  who  have  a  legal  jurisdiction. 
Here,  therefore,  my  scruples  are  at  an  end.  I  have  according- 
ly appointed  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Francis  Asbury  to  be  joint 
superintendents  over  our  brethren  in  North  America.  I  can- 
not see  a  more  rational  and  scriptural  way  of  feeding  and  guid- 
ing those  poor  sheep  in  the  wilderness.  As  our  American 
brethren  are  now  totally  disentangled  both  from  the  state  and 
from  the  English  hierarchy,  we  dare  not  entangle  them  again 
either  with  the  one  or  the  other.  They  are  now  at  full  liberty 
simply  to  follow  the  Scriptures  and  the  primitive  church,  and 
we  judge  it  best  that  they  should  stand  fast  in  that  liberty 
wherewith  God  has  so  strangely  made  them  free." 

Nor  did  Wesley  neglect  to  frame  from  the  Anglicaii  Book 
of   Common  Prayer  a  revised  liturgy  for  the  new  church, 

*  Coke  to  Bishop  White,  24  April  1791,  in  White's  Memoirs,  424. 

TOL.  VI. — 11 


162    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.ii.;  ch.v. 

and  a  creed  from  wliicli  tlie  article  on  predestination  was  left 
out. 

On  the  eigliteenth  of  September,  about  two  montlis  before 
the  nonjuring  bishops  of  Scotland  consecrated  a  bishop  for 
Connecticut,  Coke,  the  first  Methodist  "  superintendent "  for 
America,  was  on  the  water,  emulous  of  the  glory  of  Francis 
Xavier.  "  Oh,  for  a  soul  like  his ! "  he  cried.  "  I  seem  to 
want  the  wings  of  an  eagle  or  the  voice  of  a  trumpet,  that  I 
may  proclaim  the  gospel  through  the  east  and  the  west,  and 
the  north  and  the  south."  Arriving  in  JSTew  York,  he  ex- 
plained to  the  preacher  stationed  at  that  place  the  new  regula- 
tion, and  received  for  answer :  "  Mr.  Wesley  has  determined 
the  point ;  and  therefore  it  is  not  to  be  investigated,  but  com- 
plied with."  * 

Coke  journeyed  at  once  toward  Baltimore,  where  Asbury 
had  his  station.  At  Dover,  in  Delaware,  "  he  met  with  Free- 
bom  Garretson,  an  excellent  young  man,  all  meekness  and 
love,  and  yet  all  activity."  On  Sunday,  the  fourteenth  of 
November,  the  day  on  which  a  bishop  for  Connecticut  was 
consecrated  at  Aberdeen,  he  preached  in  a  chapel  in  the  midst 
of  a  forest  to  a  noble  congregation.  After  the  service,  a  plain, 
robust  man  came  up  to  him  in  the  pulpit  and  kissed  him.  He 
was  not  deceived  when  he  thought  it  could  be  no  other  than 
Francis  Asbury,  who  had  collected  there  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  preachers  in  council.  The  plan  of  Wesley  pleased  them 
all.  At  the  instance  of  Asbury  it  was  resolved  to  hold  a  gen- 
eral conference ;  and  "  they  sent  off  Freeborn  Garretson  like 
an  arrow  from  north  to  south,  directing  him  to  dispatch  mes- 
sengers right  and  left  and  gather  all  the  preachers  together  at 
Baltimore  on  Christmas  eve."  f 

Thence  Coke  moved  onward,  baptizing  adults  and  infants, 
preaching  sometimes  in  a  church,  though  it  would  not  hold 
half  the  persons  who  wished  to  hear ;  sometimes  at  the  door 
of  a  cottage  when  the  church-door  was  locked  against  him.  :|: 

On  Christmas  eve,  at  Baltimore,  began  the  great  conference 
which  organized  the  Methodists  of  America  as  a  separate  fold  in 
the  one  "  flock  of  Christ."  Of  the  eighty-one  American  preach- 
ers, nearly  sixty  were  present,  most  of  them  young.     Here  Coke 

*  Coke's  First  Journal,  1,13.  f  Coke's  Journal,  16.  X  Ibid.,  27. 


1783-1787.         OBSTACLES  TO  UNION  REMOVED.  163 

took  his  seat  as  superintendent ;  and  here,  joining  to  himself 
two  elders,  he  set  apart  Francis  Asbury  as  a  deacon  and  on  the 
next  day  as  an  elder.  Here  eleven  or  more  persons  were  elected 
elders,  and  all  of  them  who  were  present  were  consecrated ;  here 
Asbury,  who  refused  to  receive  the  office  of  superintendent  at 
the  will  of  Wesley  alone,  was  unanimously  "  elected  bishop  or 
superintendent  by  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  body  of  Method- 
ist ministers  through  the  continent,  assembled  in  general  con- 
ference ; "  and  here  Coke,  obeying  the  directions  of  Wesley, 
took  to  himself  at  least  the  canonical  number  of  presbyters, 
and  ordained  him,  Francis  Asbury,  as  "a  superintendent  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America."  *  In  the  or- 
dination sermon  delivered  on  that  day  and  published  at  the 
time,  Colce  asserts  his  own  "  right  to  exercise  the  episcopal 
office,"  and  defines  the  title  of  superintendent  as  the  equivalent 
of  "  bishop."  t 

In  April  1785  Coke  began  to  exhort  the  Methodist  socie- 
ties in  Virginia  to  emancipate  their  slaves,  and  bore  public 
testimony  against  slavery  and  against  slave-holding.  It  pro- 
voked the  unawakened  to  combine  against  him ;  but  one  of 
the  brethren  gave  liberty  to  his  eight  slaves.  In  North  Caro- 
lina, where  the  laws  of  the  state  forbade  any  to  emancipate 
their  negroes,  the  Methodist  conference  drew  up  a  petition  to 
the  assembly,  entreating  them  to  authorize  those  who  were  so 
disposed  to  set  them  free.  Asbury  visited  the  governor  and 
gained  him  over.  :j:  At  the  Yirginia  conference  in  May  they 
formed  a  petition,  of  which  a  copy  was  given  to  every  preacher, 
inviting  the  general  assembly  of  Yirginia  to  pass  a  law  for  the 
immediate  or  gradual  emancipation  of  all  slaves.  For  this 
they  sought  the  signature  of  freeholders.  And  yet  in  June 
the  conference  thought  it  prudent  to  suspend  the  minute  con- 
cerning slavery  on  account  of  the  great  opposition  given  it, 
"  our  work,"  they  said,  "  being  in  too  infantile  a  state  to  push 
things  to  extremity." 

The  Methodist  itinerant  ministers  learned  to  love  more  and 
more  ^'  a  romantic  way  of  life,"  "  the  preaching  to  large  con- 

*  Coke's  certificate,  27  December  1784. 

f  Coke  in  Tyerman's  Life  and  Times  of  John  Wesley,  iii.,  437. 

X  Coke's  First  Journal,  37. 


164    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CON"VENTIOK    b.  ii.  ;  on.  v. 

gregations  in  the  midst  of  great  forests  witli  scores  of  horses 
tied  to  the  trees."  They  had  delight  in  the  beauties  of  J^ature, 
and  knew  how  to  extract  "  from  them  all  the  sweetness  they 
are  capable  of  yielding."  The  Methodists  did  not  come  to 
rend  an  empire  in  twain,  nor  to  begin  a  long  series  of  wars 
which  should  shatter  the  civil  and  the  religious  hierarchies  of 
former  centuries,  nor  to  tumble  down  ancient  orders  by  some 
new  aristocracy  of  the  elect.  Avoiding  metaphysical  contro- 
versy and  wars  of  revolution,  they  came  in  an  age  of  tran- 
quillity when  the  feeling  for  that  which  is  higher  than  man 
had  grown  dull;  and  they  claimed  it  as  their  mission  to 
awaken  conscience,  to  revive  religion,  to  substitute  glowing 
affections  for  the  calm  of  indifierence.  They  stood  in  the 
mountain  forests  of  the  Alleghanies  and  in  the  plains  beyond 
them,  ready  to  kindle  in  emigrants,  who  might  come  without 
hymn-book  or  bible,  their  own  vivid  sense  of  religion ;  and 
their  leaders  received  from  all  parts,  especially  from  Kentucky, 
most  cheering  letters  concerning  the  progress  of  the  cause  in 
the  "  new  western  world."  At  peace  with  the  institutions  of 
the  country  in  which  they  prospered,  they  were  the  ready 
friends  to  union. 

America  was  most  thoroughly  a  Protestant  country.  The 
whole  number  of  Catholics  within  the  thirteen  states,  as  re- 
ported by  themselves,  about  the  year  1784,  was  thirty-two 
thousand  ^ve  hundred.  Twenty  thousand,  of  whom  eight 
thousand  were  slaves,  dwelt  in  Maryland.  The  four  southern- 
most states  had  but  two  thousand  five  hundred  ;  l^ew  England 
but  six  hundred;  New  York  and  'New  Jersey,  collectively, 
only  seventeen  hundred.  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  lands 
of  tolerance,  had  seven  thousand  seven  hundred.  The  French 
Catholics  settled  between  the  western  boundary  of  the  states 
and  the  Mississippi  were  estimated  at  twelve  thousand  more.* 

The  rancor  of  the  Jesuits  against  the  house  of  Bourbon 
for  exiling  them  from  Prance  and  Spain  was  relentless.  The 
Poman  Catholic  clergy  in  the  insurgent  British  colonies  had 
been  superintended  by  a  person  who  resided  in  London ;  and 
during  the  war  they  were  directed  by  Jesuits  who  favored  the 
British.     The  influences  which  in  South  America  led  to  most 


l'/83-178r.         OBSTACLES   TO   UNION   REMOVED.  165 

disastrous  results  for  Spain  were  of  little  consequence  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  Franklin's  desire  to  do  away  with  this 
influence  unfriendly  to  France.  The  Roman  see  proceeded 
with  caution ;  and  a  letter  from  its  nuncio  at  Paris,  on  the 
appointment  of  a  bishop  in  the  United  States,  was  communi- 
cated to  congress.  In  May  1784  they,  in  reply,  expressed  a 
readiness  to  testify  respect  to  the  sovereign  and  the  state  rep- 
resented by  the  nuncio,  but,  disavowing  jurisdiction  over  a 
purely  spiritual  subject,  referred  him  to  the  several  states  indi- 
vidually.* 

The  British  crown,  and,  at  a  later  period,  British  legisla- 
tion, had  arbitrarily  changed  the  grants  of  territory  held  under 
the  several  colonial  charters.  Nearly  three  years  before  the 
preliminary  treaty  of  peace,  ISTew  York,  to  facihtate  union 
among  the  United  States  of  America,  led  the  way  of  relin- 
quishing pretensions  to  any  part  of  the  lands  acquired  by  the 
treaty  of  peace.  Virginia,  which  had  a  better  claim  to  west- 
ern territory,  resigned  it  for  the  like  purpose,  reserving  only  a 
tract  between  the  Scioto  and  the  Miami  as  an  indemnity  for 
the  expenses  of  its  conquest.  Massachusetts  persisted  in  no 
claim  except  to  the  ownership  of  lands  in  New  York.  The 
charter  of  Connecticut  carried  its  line  all  the  way  to  the  Pacific 
ocean ;  with  great  wariness  Poger  Sherman,  so  Grayson  relates, 
connected  the  cession  of  the  claims  of  his  state  with  the  re- 
serve of  a  district  in  the  north-east  of  Ohio.  The  right  of 
Connecticut  to  a  reservation  was  denied  by  Grayson,  and,  in 
Sherman's  absence  from  congress,  stoutly  and  successfully  de- 
fended by  Johnson.  A  small  piece  of  land  between  the  line 
of  New  York  and  the  eastern  line  of  the  Connecticut  reserve 
remained  to  the  United  States.  Pennsylvania  purchased  the 
land  and  obtained  of  congress  a  willing  cession  of  the  jurisdic- 
tion, thus  gaining  access  to  the  lake  and  the  harbor  of  Erie. 
South  Carolina  had  certain  undefined  rights  to  territory  in  the 
West;  she  ceded  them  without  qualification  to  the  United 
States.  The  rights  of  Yirginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia 
to  extend  to  the  Mississippi,  like  the  right  of  Massachusetts  to 
the  lands  in  Maine,  were  unquestioned.     In  this  manner  the 

*  FranMin'3  Works,  ix.,  548.     Diplomatic  Correspondence,  iy.,  158,  169.    Se- 
cret Journals  of  Congress,  iii.,  493. 


16G    ON"  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,    b.ii.;  en.  v. 

public  domain,  instead  of  exciting  animosities  and  conflicting 
claims  between  rival  states  or  between  individual  states  and 
the  general  interest,  served  only  to  bind  the  members  of  the 
confederacy  more  closely  together  by  securing  one  vast  terri- 
tory in  the  West  extending  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Lake  of  the 
Woods,  to  be  filled,  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  alike 
by  emigrants  from  them  all. 

A  more  serious  matt3r  was  that  of  the  customs.  ]^ew 
York  had  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  establish  a  custom-house 
for  the  sole  benefit  of  its  own  treasury.  Richard  Henry  Lee 
taught  the  authors  of  the  measure  that  they  were  defending 
the  rights  of  the  states,  and  preserving  congress  from  the  cor- 
rupting influence  of  an  independent  revenue.  Comforted  by 
these  opinions  of  an  eminent  statesman  whom  congress  had 
raised  to  its  presidency,  New  York  persisted  in  treating  the 
revenue  levied  on  the  commerce  of  its  port  as  its  own ;  and 
here  was  a  real  impediment  to  union. 

Sadder  was  the  institution  of  slavery ;  for  the  conflicting 
opinions  and  interests  involved  in  its  permanence  could  never 
be  reconciled. 


1787.  l^EED  OF  AN  OVERRULING  UNION.  167 


CHAPTER  YL 

state  laws  impaieikg  the  obligation  of  contracts  peove 
the  need  of  an  oveeeulinq  union. 

Before  May  1787. 

A  BRILLIANT  artist  has  painted  Fortune  as  a  beautiful 
woman  enthroned  on  a  globe,  which  for  the  moment  is  at  rest, 
but  is  ready  to  roll  at  the  slightest  touch.  A  country  whose 
people  are  marked  by  inventive  genius,  industry,  and  skill, 
whose  immense  domain  is  exuberantly  fertile,  whose  abounding 
products  the  rest  of  the  world  cannot  dispense  with,  may  hold 
her  fast,  and  seat  her  immovably  on  a  pedestal  of  four  square 
sides. 

The  thirteen  American  states  had  a  larger  experience  of 
the  baleful  consequences  of  paper  money  than  all  the  world 
besides.  As  each  of  them  had  a  legislation  of  its  own,  the 
laws  were  as  variant  as  the5'  were  inconvenient  and  unjust. 
The  shilling  had  differing  rates  from  its  sterling  value  to  an 
eighth  of  a  dollar.  The  confusion  in  computing  the  worth  of 
the  currency  of  one  state  in  that  of  another  was  hopelessly 
increased  by  the  laws,  which  discriminated  between  different 
kinds  of  paper  issued  by  the  same  state;  so  that  a  volume 
could  hardly  hold  the  tables  of  the  reciprocal  rates  of  exchange. 
Moreover,  any  man  loaning  money  or  making  a  contract  in 
his  own  state  or  in  another,  was  liable  at  any  time  to  loss  by 
some  fitful  act  of  separate  legislation.  The  necessity  of  pro- 
viding effectually  for  the  security  of  private  rights  and  the 
steady  dispensation  of  justice,  more,,  perhaps,  than.,  anything 
else,  brought  about  the  new  constitution.* 

*  Gilpin,  804  ;  Elliot,  162. 


1G8    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  b.it.;  ch.ti. 

]^  0  sooner  had  tlie  cry  of  the  martyrs  of  Lexington  reached 
Connecticut  than  its  legislature  put  forth  paper  money  for 
war  expenses,  and  continued  to  do  so  till  October  1777.  These 
were  not  made  legal  tender  in  private  transactions/^  and  there 
were  no  other  issues  till  1780. 

In  October  of  that  year  the  legislature  of  the  state,  once 
for  all,  interposed  itself  between  the  creditor  and  debtor.  It 
discriminated  between  contracts  that  were  rightly  to  be  paid 
in  gold  and  silver  and  contracts  understood  to  be  made  in 
paper  currency,  whether  of  the  continent  or  of  the  state.  A 
pay-table  for  settling  the  progressive  rate  of  depreciation  was 
constructed;  and,  to  avoid  the  injustice  which  might  come 
from  a  strict  application  of  the  laws,  it  gave  to  the  court  au- 
thority through  referees,  or,  if  either  party  refused  a  reference, 
by  itself,  to  take  all  circumstances  into  consideration,  and  to 
determine  the  case  according  to  the  rules  of  equity.f 

In  this  wise  the  relations  between  debtor  and  creditor  in 
Connecticut  were  settled  summarily  and  finally,  and  no  room 
left  for  rankling  discontent.  The  first  of  the  ~New  England 
states  to  issue  paper  money  on  the  sudden  call  to  arms  was  the 
first  to  return  to  the  use  of  coin.  The  wide-spread  move- 
ments of  178G  for  the  issue  of  paper  money  never  prevailed 
within  its  borders.  Its  people,  as  they  were  frugal,  indus- 
trious, and  honest,  dwelt  together  in  peace,  while  other  states 
were  rent  by  faction. 

Massachusetts,  after  the  downfall  of  the  continental  paper, 
returned  to  the  sole  use  of  gold  and  silver  in  contracts ;  but 
its  statesmen  had  before  them  a  most  difiicult  task,  for  the  peo- 
ple had  been  tempted  by  the  low  prices  of  foreign  goods  to 
run  into  debt,  and  their  resources,  from  the  interruption  of 
their  sale  of  ships  and  fish-oil  in  England,  of  fish  and  lumber 
in  the  British  West  Indies,  and  from  the  ruin  of  home  manu- 
facturers by  the  cheapness  of  foreign  goods,  were  exhausted. 
While  it  established  its  scale  of  depreciation,  it  did  not,  like 
Connecticut,  order  an  impartial  and  definitive  settlement  be- 
tween the  creditor  and  debtor,  but  dallied  with  danger.  In 
July  1782  it  allowed,  for  one  year,  judgments  to  be  satisfied 

*  Bronson's  Connecticut  Currency,  137. 
f  Laws  of  Connecticut,  ed.  1786,  49,  50. 


1787.  NEED   OF   AN   OVERRULING  UNION.  169 

by  the  tender  of  neat  cattle  or  otlier  enumerated  articles  at  an 
appraisement ;  but  the  creditor  had  only  to  wait  till  the  year 
should  expire.  Repeated  temporary  stay-laws  gave  no  real  re- 
lief ;  they  flattered  and  deceived  the  hope  of  the  debtor,  exas- 
perating alike  him  and  his  creditor.*  But  when,  in  May  178G, 
a  petition  was  presented  from  towns  in  Bristol  county  for  an 
emission  of  paper  money,  out  of  one  hundred  and  eighteen 
members  in  the  house  of  representatives,  it  received  only  nine- 
teen votes,  and  only  thirty-five  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  supported  the  plan  of  making  real  and  personal  estate  a 
tender  on  an  appraisement  in  discharge  of  an  execution. 

In  like  manner  New  Hampshire,  after  the  peace,  shunned 
the  emission  of  paper  money.  Its  people  suifered  less  than 
Massachusetts,  because  they  were  far  less  in  debt. 

Alone  of  the  New  England  states,  Ehode  Island,  after  the 
peace,  resumed  the  attempt  to  legislate  value  into  paper.  The 
question  had  divided  the  electors  of  the  state  into  political 
parties ;  the  farmers  in  the  villages  were  arrayed  against  the 
merchants  and  traders  of  the  larger  towns ;  and  in  May  178 6, 
after  a  hard  contest,  the  party  in  favor  of  paper  money,  with 
John  Collins  for  governor,  came  into  power. 

In  all  haste  the  legislature  authorized  the  issue  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  to  be  loaned  out  to  any  man  of  Rhode 
Island  at  four  per  cent  for  seven  years,  after  which  one  sev- 
enth was  to  be  repaid  annually.  Those  bills  were  made  a  legal 
tender  except  for  debts  due  to  charitable  corporations.  A 
large  part  of  the  debt  of  the  state  was  paid  in  them. 

To  escape  the  very  heavy  fine  for  refusing  to  sell  goods  for 
paper  as  the  full  equivalent  of  specie,f  the  merchants  of  New- 
port closed  their  shops.  The  act  speedily  provoked  litigation. 
In  September  a  complaint  was  made  against  a  butcher  for  re- 
fusing to  receive  paper  at  par  in  payment  for  meat.  The 
case  was  tried  before  a  full  bench  of  the  five  judges.  Yarnum 
in  an  elaborate  argument  set  forth  the  unconstitutionality  of 
the  law  and  its  danger  as  a  precedent.  Goodwin  answered 
that  it  conflicted  with  notliing  in  the  charter,  which  was  the 
fundamental  law  of  Rhode  Island.     Judge  Howell  the  next 

*  Hinot's  Insurrection  of  Massachusetts,  14. 
f  Compare  Otto  to  Vcrgcnncs,  6  August  178G. 


170    O:^  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  ch.yi. 

morning,  delivering  tlie  unanimous  opinion  of  the  court,  de- 
clared the  acts  unconstitutional  and  void,  and  dismissed  the 
case  as  not  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court.  At  the  de- 
cision, one  universal  shout  of  joj  rang  through  the  court-house. 
The  assembly  of  Rhode  Island  summoned  the  judges  to  assign 
the  reasons  for  their  judgment.  Three  of  the  five  obeyed 
the  summons.  At  the  next  session  of  the  legislature  Howell, 
"with  two  associates,  defended  the  opinion  of  the  bench  and 
denied  the  accountability  of  the  supreme  judiciary  to  the 
general  assembly.  The  assembly  resolved  that  no  satisfactory 
reasons  had  been  rendered  by  the  bench  for  its  judgment,  and 
discharged  them  from  further  attendance. 

'New  York  successfully  extricated  itself  from  the  confusion 
of  continental  and  state  paper  money;  but  in  April  of  the 
fatal  year  1783  its  legislature,  after  long  debates,  made  re- 
markable by  the  remonstrances  of  Duer,  voted  to  emit  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds  in  bills  of  credit.  The  money  so 
emitted  was  receivable  for  duties,  and  was  made  a  legal  tender 
in  all  suits.* 

In  the  council  of  revision  strong  but  not  successful  objec- 
tions were  raised.  Livingston,f  the  chancellor,  set  forth  that 
a  scarcity  of  money  can  be  remedied  only  by  industry  and 
economy,  not  by  laws  that  foster  idleness  and  dissipation ;  that 
the  bill,  under  the  appearance  of  relief,  would  add  to  the  dis- 
tress of  the  debtor ;  that  it  at  the  same  instant  solicited  and 
destroyed  credit ;  that  it  would  cause  the  taxes  and  debts  of 
the  state  to  the  United  States  to  be  paid  in  paper.  Hobart, 
one  of  the  justices,  reported  that  it  would  prove  an  unwar- 
rantable interference  in  private  contracts,  and  to  this  objection 
Livingston  gave  his  adhesion.  Morris,  the  chief  justice,  ob- 
jected to  receiving  the  bills  in  the  custom-house  treasury  as 
money,  and  held  that  the  enactment  would  be  working  iniquity 
by  the  aid  of  law ;  but  a  veto  was  not  agreed  upon. :{: 

Livingston,  the  governor  of  J^ew  Jersey,  communicating  to 
its  legislature,  in  May  1783,  the  tidings  of  peace,  said :  "  Let  us 
show  ourselves  worthy  of  freedom  by  an  inflexible  attachment 

*  Jones  and  Varick's  New  York  Laws,  ed.  1789,  283. 

f  Street's  Council  of  Rerision  of  the  State  of  New  York,  409. 

X  Street's  Council  of  Revision  of  the  State  of  New  York,  412,416. 


178T.  NEED   OF  AN   OVERRULING  UNION.  171 

to  public  f aitli  and  national  honor ;  let  us  establish  our  charac- 
ter as  a  sovereign  state  '^  on  the  only  durable  basis  of  impartial 
and  universal  justice."  The  legislature  responded  to  his  words 
by  authorizing  the  United  States  to  levy  the  duty  on  commerce 
which  had  been  required,  and  by  making  a  provision  for  rais- 
ing ninety  thousand  pounds  by  taxation  for  the  exigencies  of 
the  year.  In  settling  debts  it  gave  legal  power  to  the  court 
and  jury  to  decide  the  case  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge, 
agreeably  to  equity  and  good  conscience.f  But  in  the  follow- 
ing December  it  returned  to  paper  money,  and  sanctioned  the 
issue  of  more  than  thirty-one  thousand  pounds  J  to  supply  the 
quota  of  the  state  for  the  year. 

In  the  conflict,  the  arguments  against  paper  money  were 
stated  so  fully  and  so  strongly,  that  later  writers  on  political 
economy  have  added  nothing  to  the  practical  wisdom  of  the 
thoughtful  men  of  that  day ;  and  yet  in  1786  a  bill  for  the 
emission  of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  marched  in  triumph 
through  its  assembly,  which  sat  with  closed  doors.  The  money 
was  a  tender ;  if  it  was  refused,  the  debt  was  suspended  for 
twelve  years.  In  the  mean  time  the  act  of  limitation  continued 
in  force,  and  in  effect  destroyed  it.  In  the  council  the  bill 
was  lost  by  eight  voices  to  Ave.*  In  consequence  of  this 
check,  the  effigy  of  Livingston,  the  aged  governor,  was  drawn 
up  to  the  stake  near  Elizabethtown,  but  not  consigned  to  the 
flames  from  reverence  for  the  first  magistrate  of  the  common* 
wealth ;  that  of  a  member  of  the  council  was  burned.  In  May 
the  governor  and  council  thought  proper  to  yield,  and  the  bill 
for  paper  money  became  a  law.  A  law  for  paying  debts  in 
lands  or  chattels  was  repealed  within  eight  months  of  its  enact- 
ment. 

The  opulent  state  of  Pennsylvania  by  a  series  of  laws 
emerged  from  the  paper  currency  of  the  war.  But,  in  Decem- 
ber 1784,  debts  contracted  before  1777  were  made  payable  in 
three  annual  instalments.  [     In  1785  one  hundred  and  fifty 

*  Mulford's  New  Jersey,  473. 

f  Act  of  June  1783.     Patcrson's  Laws  of  New  Jersey,  ed.  1800,  50. 
If.  Wilson's  Laws  of  New  Jersey,  ed.  1Y84,  363. 

*  Grayson  to  Madison,  22  March  1786.     Otto  to  Vergennes,  17  March  1786. 
Q  Dallas's  Laws  of  Pennsylvania,  ii.,  2S6. 


172    ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONYENTIOK  b,  ii.  ;  cii.  vi. 

thousand  pounds  were  issued  in  bills  of  credit,  to  be  received 
as  gold  and  silver  in  payments  to  the  sta,te ;  *  and  fifty  thou- 
sand pounds  were  emitted  in  bills  of  credit  on  loan,  f  The 
bank  of  the  United  States  refusing  to  receive  these  bills  as  of 
equal  value  with  its  own,  its  act  of  incorporation  by  the  state 
was  repealed. 

In  February  1785  Delaware  called  in  all  its  outstanding 
bills  of  credit,  whether  emitted  before  or  since  the  declaration 
of  independence,  with  orders  for  redeeming  them  at  the  rate 
of  one  pound  for  seventy-live.  After  six  months  they  would 
cease  to  be  redeemable.  J 

Maryland,  in  its  June  session  of  1780,  emitted  thirty  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling  to  be  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts  and  con- 
tracts. In  the  same  session  it  was  enacted  that  all  contracts 
expressed  in  writing  to  be  in  specie  were  to  be  paid  in  specie. 
In  1782  it  enacted  a  stay-law  extending  to  January  1781,  and 
during  that  time  the  debtor  might  make  a  tender  of  slaves,  or 
land,  or  almost  anything  that  land  produced;  but  the  great 
attempt  in  1786  to  renew  paper  money,  though  pursued  mth 
the  utmost  violence  and  passion,  and  carried  in  the  assembly, 
was  successfully  held  in  check  by  the  senate. 

Georgia,  in  August  1782,  stayed  execution  for  two  years 
from  and  after  the  passing  of  the  act.  In  February  1785  its 
bills  of  credit  were  ordered  to  be  redeemed  in  specie  certifi- 
cates, at  the  rate  of  one  thousand  for  one.  This  having:  been 
done,  in  August  of  the  next  year  fifty  thousand  pounds  were 
emitted  in  bills  of  credit,  which  were  secured  "  by  the  guaran- 
teed honor  and  faith "  of  the  state,  and  by  a  mortgage  on  a 
vast  and  most  fertile  tract  of  public  land.* 

South  Carolina  attracted  special  attention.  In  February 
1782  that  state  repealed  its  laws  making  paper  money  a  legal 
tender.  Twenty  days  later  the  commencement  of  suits  was 
suspended  till  ten  days  after  the  sitting  of  the  next  general 
assembly.  1     The  new  legislature,  in  March  1783,  established, 

*  Dallas's  Laws  of  Pennsylvania,  ii.,  257. 

f  Ibid.,  291 

%  Laws  of  Delaware,  cd.  1797,  801. 

«  Watkins's  Digest  of  the  Laws  of  Georgia,  314,  315. 

I  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Caroliaa,  iv.,  513. 


1787.  NEED   OF  AN  OVERRULING  UNION.  1^3 

as  in  other  states,  a  table  of  depreciation,  so  that  debts  might 
be  discharged  according  to  their  real  value  at  the  time  of  the 
original  contract.*  On  the  twentj-sixth  day  of  March  1784 
came  the  great  ordinance  for  the  payment  of  debts  in  four  an- 
nual instalments,  beginning  on  the  first  day  of  January  1786  ;  f 
but  before  the  arrival  of  the  first  epoch  a  law  of  October  1785, 
v^hich  soon  became  known  as  the  "  barren  land  law,"  author- 
ized the  debtor  to  tender  to  the  plaintiff  such  part  of  his  prop- 
erty, real  or  personal,  as  he  should  think  proper,  even  though 
it  were  the  very  poorest  of  his  estate,  and  the  creditor  must 
accept  it  at  three  fourths  of  its  appraised  value.  Simultane- 
ously  with  this  act  South  Carolina  issued  one  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  in  bills  of  credit,  to  be  loaned  at  seven  per  cent. 
The  period  for  the  instalments  was  renewed  and  prolonged.  J 

During  the  war,  ]^orth  Carolina  made  lavish  use  of  paper 
money.  In  April  1783,  after  the  return  of  peace,  it  still,  un- 
der various  pretences,  put  into  circulation  one  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds — ^the  pound  in  that  state  being  equal  to  two  and 
one  half  Spanish  milled  dollars ;  and  in  the  same  session,  but 
after  much  debate,  suits  were  suspended  for  twelve  months. 
The  town  of  Edenton,  using  the  words  of  James  Iredell,  in- 
structed their  representatives  and  senator  in  these  words :  "  We 
earnestly  entreat,  for  tlie  sake  of  our  officers  and  soldiers,  as 
well  as  our  own  and  that  of  the  public  at  large,  that  no  more 
paper  money  under  any  circumstances  may  be  made,  and  that, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  present  emission  may  be  redeemed  and 
burned.*  But  the  protest  availed  nothing.  In  November 
1785,  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  paper  currency  were  again 
ordered  to  be  emitted,  and  to  be  a  lawful  tender  in  all  pay- 
ments whatever.  So,  while  the  confederation  was  gasping  for 
life,  the  finances  of  North  Carolina,  both  pubHc  and  private, 
were  threatened  with  ruin  by  an  irredeemable  currency. 

The  redemption  of  the  country  from  the  blight  of  paper 
money  depended  largely  on  Virginia.  The  greatest  state  in 
the  union,  resisting  the  British  governor  and  forces  at  the  out- 
break of  the  revolution,  conquering  the  ISTorth-west,  the  chief 
reliance  of  the  army  of  Greene  at  the  South,  the  scene  of 

*  Statutes  at  Largo  of  South  Carolina,  iv.,  563.      ^  ^bid.,  710-712. 

f  Ibid.,  610,  641.  *  Life  of  Iredell,  ii.,  46,  63. 


lU    OlvT  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERxiL  CONVENTIOI^.  b.ii.;  on.  vi. 

the  war  in  its  last  active  year,  Virginia  far  exceeded  any  other 
state  in  its  emission  of  millions  in  j)aper  money.  After  the 
victory  at  Yorktown,  it  ceased  to  vote  new  paper  money.  The 
old  was  declared  to  be  no  longer  receivable,  except  for  the 
taxes  of  the  year,  and  it  was  made  redeemable  in  loan  office 
certificates  at  the  rate  of  one  thousand  for  one.*  In  retalia- 
tion for  the  most  wanton  destruction  of  projDerty,  British  debts 
were  not  recoverable  in  the  courts.  For  others  it  constructed 
a  scale  of  depreciation  in  the  settlement  of  contracts  made  in 
the  six  years  following  the  first  of  January  1777.  It  had  stay- 
laws.  For  a  short  time  it  allowed  executions  to  be  satisfied  by 
the  tender  of  tobacco,  flour,  and  hemp  at  a  price  to  be  settled 
every  month  by  county  courts. f  For  a  year  or  two  lands  and 
negroes  might  be  tendered  on  judgments,  but  every  contract 
made  since  the  first  of  January  J  782  J  was  to  be  discharged  in 
the  manner  specified  by  the  contract.  So  Yirginia  returned  to 
the  use  of  coin.  But  in  1785  rumors  went  abroad  that  the  as- 
sembly was  resolved  to  issue  a  paper  currency.  George  Mason, 
then  in  private  life,  scoffed  at  solemnly  pledging  the  public 
credit  which  had  so  often  been  disregarded,  and  declared  that, 
though  they  might  pass  a  law  to  issue  paper  money,  twenty 
laws  would  not  make  the  people  receive  it.*  At  the  end  of 
the  session  Madison  could  write  to  Jefferson  ||  that,  though  the 
desire  of  paper  money  had  discovered  itself,  "  no  overt  attempt 
was  made ! " 

It  became  known  that  Meriwether  Smith  and  others,  aided 
by  an  unfavorable  balance  of  trade  and  the  burden  of  heavy 
taxation,  would  at  the  next  session  move  for  a  paper  medium. 
Aware  of  the  danger,  Washington  insisted  that  George  Mason 
should  be  a  candidate  for  the  assembly ;  and  his  election  proved 
a  counterpoise  to  the  popular  cry.  Again,  quoting  from  his 
own  circular  of  June  1783,  that  "  honesty  will  be  found,  on 
every  experiment,  the  best  policy,"  he  encouraged  Bland  to 
firmness.  The  subject  of  paper  money  was  introduced  in 
October  1786  by  petitions  from  two  counties,  was  faintly  sup- 
ported by  "  a  few  obscure  patrons,"  was  resisted  as  an  encour- 

*  Ilening,  x.,  455.  f  Hening,  xi.,  Y5,  76.  j-  Ibid,,  176-180. 

*  George  Mason  to  Washington,  9  November  1785. 

II  Works  of  Madison,  i.,  218. 


17S7.  NEED   OF  AN  OVERRULING  UNION.  175 

agement  to  "  fraud  in  states  against  each  other,"  and  "  as  a  dis- 
grace to  republican  governments  in  the  eyes  of  mankind;" 
then,  by  eighty-five  against  seventeen,  it  was  voted  to  be  "  un- 
just, impolitic,  destructive  of  public  and  private  confidence, 
and  of  that  virtue  which  is  the  basis  of  republican  govern- 
ment"     The  words  show  the  mind  and  hand  of  Madison. 

There  was  need  of  a  new  bill  on  the  district  courts,  but  it  was 
clogged  with  the  proposal  for  the  payment  of  private  debts  in 
three  annual  instalments.  Madison  held  that  "  no  legislative 
principle  could  vindicate  such  an  interposition  of  the  law  in 
private  contracts,"  and  the  bill  was  lost,  thouga  but  by  one 
vote.*  The  taxes  of  the  year  were  allowed  to  be  paid  in  tobac- 
co as  "  a  commutable."  "  These,  and  such  like  things,"  such 
was  the  unbending  criticism  of  "Washington,  "  are  extremely 
hurtful,  and  may  be  reckoned  among  the  principal  sources  of 
the  evils  and  the  corruption  of  the  present  day ;  and  this,  too, 
without  accomplishing  the  object  in  view,  for,  if  we  mean  to 
be  honest,  debts  and  taxes  must  be  paid  with  the  substance  and 
not  the  shadow."  f 

Excusing  the  legislature,  Madison  answered :  "  The  original 
object  was  paper  money;  petitions  for  graduated  certificates 
succeeded ;  next  came  instalments,  and  lastly  a  project  for 
making  property  a  tender  for  debts  at  four  fifths  of  its  value ; 
all  these  have  been  happily  got  rid  of  by  very  large  majorities."  :j: 

The  mind  of  the  country  bent  itself  with  all  its  energy  to 
root  out  the  evils  of  paper  money,  and  establish  among  the 
states  one  common  rule  by  which  the  obligation  of  contracts 
might  be  preserved  unimpaired.  ]^o  remedy  would  avail  that 
did  not  reach  them  all.  They  found  that  for  the  security  of 
money  there  were  but  two  remedies  :  frugality  to  diminish  the 
need  of  it,  and  increased  industry  to  produce  more  of  it.  They 
found  that  paper  money  drives  specie  away ;  that  every  new 
issue  hastens  its  disappearance,  destroying  credit  and  creating 
a  famine  of  money ;  that  every  penalty  for  the  refusal  to  ac- 
cept paper  money  at  par  lowers  its  worth,  and  that  the  heavier 
the  penalty  the  more  sure  is  the  decline.  They  saw  the  death- 
blow that  is  given  to  credit,  when  confidence,  which  must  be 

*  Madison,  i.,  239,  252,  253,  255,  260,  265,  267. 
f  Washington  to  Madison.     MS.  |  Madison,  i.,  20*7,  268. 


176  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  ch.  vi. 

voluntary,  is  commanded  by  force.  Tliej  saw  that  the  use  of 
paper  money  robs  industry,  frugality,  and  honesty  of  their  natu- 
ral rights  in  behalf  of  spendthrifts  and  adventurers.*  Gray- 
son held  that  paper  money  with  a  tender  annexed  to  it  is  in 
conflict  with  that  degree  of  security  to  property  which  is  fun- 
damental in  every  state  in  the  union,  f  He  further  thought 
that  "congress  should  have  the  power  of  preventing  states 
from  cheating  one  anotlier,  as  well  as  their  own  citizens,  by 
means  of  paper  money."  :j: 

Madison  classified  the  evils  to  be  remedied  under  the  four 
heads  of  depreciated  paper  as  a  legal  tender,  of  property  sub- 
stituted for  money  in  paj^ment  of  debts,  of  laws  for  paying 
debts  by  instalments,  and  "  of  the  occlusion  of  the  courts  of 
justice."  To  root  out  the  dishonest  system  effectually,  he  held 
it  necessary  to  give  the  general  government  not  only  the  right 
to  regulate  coin  as  in  the  confederation,  but  to  prevent  inter- 
ference with  state,  inter-state,  and  foreign  contracts  by  separate 
legislation  of  any  state.  The  evil  was  everywhere  the  subject 
of  reprobation  ;  the  citizens  of  Massachusetts,  as  we  learn  from 
one  of  its  historians,*  complained  of  "retrospective  laws;" 
Pelatiah  Webster  of  Philadelphia  set  forth  that  "  these  acts 
alter  the  value  of  contracts,"  ||  and  William  Paterson  of  'New 
Jersey,  one  of  the  best  writers  of  that  day  on  the  subject, 
pointed  out  that  "  the  legislature  should  leave  the  parties  to 
the  law  under  which  they  contracted." 

For  resisting  reform,  Phode  Island  and  l^orth  Carolina 
were  likely  to  be  the  foremost ;  for  demanding  it,  and  for 
persisting  in  the  demand,  Connecticut  had  the  most  hopeful 
record.  Among  the  statesmen  to  whom  the  country  might 
look  in  the  emergency,  no  one  had  been  more  conspicuous  or 
more  efficient  than  Madison ;  but  Poger  Sherman  had  all  the 
while  been  a  member  of  the  superior  court  of  his  own  state, 
and  so  by  near  observation  under  great  responsibility  had 
thoroughly  studied  every  aspect  of  the  obligation  of  contracts. 

*  Compare  the  writings  and  opinions  of  "William  Paterson,  R.  R.  Livingston, 
R.  n.  Lee,  Madison,  and  others,  written  or  uttered  in  the  years  immediately  pre- 
ceding 1787. 

f  Grayson  to  Madison,  22  March  1786.         X  Same  to  same,  28  May  1736. 

*=  Minot's  Insurrection,  15.  [  Webster's  Essays,  129,  138. 


1783-1786.    CONGRESS  CONFESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS.       I77 


CHAPTEE  YII. 

CONGRESS   COl^ESSES    ITS    HELPLESSNESS. 

1Y83-1786. 

"  At  length,"  so  wrote  Wasliington  to  Lafayette  in  1783, 
"  I  am  become  a  private  citizen  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac, 
solacing  myself  with  tranquil  enjoyments,  retiring  within  my- 
self, able  to  tread  the  paths  of  private  life  with  heartfelt  satis- 
faction, envious  of  none,  determined  to  be  pleased  with  all ; 
and,  this  being  the  order  for  my  march,  I  will  move  gently 
down  the  stream  of  life  till  I  sleep  with  my  fathers."  The 
French  minister,  Luzerne,  who  visited  Washington  a  few 
weeks  after  his  return  to  private  life,  "  found  him  attired  in  a 
plain  gray  suit  like  a  Yirginia  farmer."  "  To  secure  the  hap- 
piness of  those  around  him  appeared  to  be  his  chief  occupa- 
tion." ''^  His  country  with  one  voice  acknowledged  that  but 
for  him  its  war  of  revolution  must  have  failed.  His  glory 
pervaded  the  world,  and  the  proofs  of  it  followed  him  to  his 
retirement. 

Houdon,  the  great  French  sculptor  of  his  day,  moved  more 
by  enthusiasm  for  him  than  by  the  expected  compensation  for 
making  his  statue,  came  over  with  his  assistants  to  Mount 
Yemen  to  take  a  mould  of  his  person,  to  study  his  counte- 
nance, to  watch  his  step  as  he  walked  over  his  fields,  his  atti- 
tude as  he  paused  ;  and  so  he  has  preserved  for  posterity  the 
features  and  the  form  of  "Washington. 

Marie  Antoinette  added  words  of  her  own  to  those  of  the 
king  of  France,  who  invited  him  to  visit  them.  Luzerne 
pressed  the  invitation  as  the  heartfelt  desire  of  the  French 

*  Luzerne  to  Rayneval,  12  April  1784. 
VOL.  Ti. — 12 


178   01:^  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVEimOK  b.ii.;  oh.vh. 

people.  "  Come  to  France,"  wrote  Rodiambeau,  speaking  the 
wish  of  all  the  French  officers  who  had  served  in  America ; 
"  come,  and,  in  a  country  which  honors  yon,  be  assured  of  a  re- 
ception without  example,  after  a  revolution  which  has  not  its 
like  in  history."  But  his  presence  was  needed  at  home  to  re- 
trieve his  affairs  from  the  confusion  consequent  on  his  long 
service  in  the  war,  during  whicli  he  not  only  refused  all  pay, 
but  subscribed  what  he  could  to  the  public  loans.  Of  these 
the  amount  of  the  principal  had  been  reduced,  and  the  inter- 
est, proportionately  reduced,  was  paid  in  paper  almost  worth- 
less. Moreover,  persons  indebted  to  him  had  seized  their  op- 
portunity to  pay  him  in  depreciated  continental  bills. 

His  estate,  than  which  "  no  one  in  United  America  "  seemed 
to  him  "  more  pleasantly  situated,"  consisted  of  over  nine  thou- 
sand acres,  for  the  most  part  of  a  grayish  clay  soil,  lying  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  Potomac,  and  having,  on  the  east  and 
west,  rivulets  which  rose  and  fell  with  the  tides,  and  which, 
like  the  main  stream,  abounded  in  lish.  He  would  gladly 
have  found  a  tenant  for  two  thirds  of  it  at  an  annual  rent  of 
three  thousand  dollars ;  but  was  obliged  to  retain  the  manage- 
ment of  the  whole. 

His  unpretending  mansion,  with  rooms  of  low  ceilings,  and 
neither  many  nor  large,  was  well  placed  on  a  high  bank  of  the 
river.  For  beautifying  the  grounds  around  it,  he  would  ride 
in  the  line  season  into  the  forests  and  select  great  numbers  of 
well-shaped  trees  and  shrubs,  elms  and  live-oaks,  the  pines  and 
the  hemlock,  holly-trees  and  magnolias,  the  red-bud,  the  thorn, 
and  many  others,  and  would  transplant  them  in  the  proper 
season.  His  orchard  he  filled  Avith  the  best  cherries  and  pears 
and  apples. 

At  the  end  of  a  year  and  a  half  he  had  not  been  able  "  to 
rescue  his  private  concerns  from  the  disorder  into  which  they 
had  been  thrown  by  the  war,"  though  success  in  the  effort 
"  was  become  absolutely  necessary  for  his  support."  *  After 
he  had  been  at  home  for  two  seasons,  his  inventory  showed  of 
horses  one  hundred  and  thirty,  of  cattle  three  hundred  and 
thirty-six,  of  sheep  two  hundred  and  eighty-three;  the  hogs 
were  untold,  but  on  one  winter's  day  a  hundred  and  twenty- 

*  Wasliington  to  Humphreys,     Sparks,  ix.,  113. 


1783-1786.    CONGRESS   CONFESSES  ITS   HELPLESSNESS.       179 

eight  were  killed,  weigliing  more  than  seventeen  thousand 
pounds.  His  "negroes,"  in  February  1786,  numbered  two 
hundred  and  sixteen.^  JSTo  one  of  them  was  willing  to  leave 
him  for  another  master.  As  it  was  his  fixed  rule  never  either 
to  buy  or  to  sell  a  slave,  they  had  the  institution  of  marriage 
and  secure  relations  of  family.  The  sick  were  provided  with 
the  best  medical  attendance  ;  children,  the  infirm,  and  the  aged 
were  well  cared  for.  Washington  was  but  the  director  of  his 
community  of  black  people  in  their  labor,  mainly  for  their  own 
subsistence.  For  the  market  they  produced  scarcely  anything 
but  "  a  little  wheat ; "  and  after  a  season  of  drought  even  their 
own  support  had  to  be  eked  out  from  other  resources ;  so  that, 
with  ail  his  method  and  good  judgment,  he,  like  Madison  of  a 
later  day,  and  in  accord  with  common  experience  in  Virginia, 
found  that  where  negroes  continued  on  the  same  land  and  they 
and  all  their  increase  were  maintained  upon  it,  their  owner 
would  gradually  become  more  and  more  embarrassed  or  im- 
poverished. As  to  bounty  lands  received  for  service  in  the 
seven  years'  war  and  his  other  domains  beyond  the  Alleghany, 
he  "found  distant  property  in  lands  more  pregnant  of  per- 
plexities than  profit."  His  income,  uncertain  in  its  amount, 
was  not  sufficient  to  meet  his  unavoidable  expenses,  and  he  be- 
came more  straitened  for  money  than  he  had  ever  been  since 
his  boyhood  ;  so  that  he  was  even  obliged  to  delay  paying  the 
annual  bill  of  his  physician,  to  put  ofl'  the  tax-gatherer  once 
and  again,  and,  what  was  harder,  to  defer  his  charities ;  for, 
while  it  was  his  habit  to  conceal  his  gifts,  he  loved  to  give, 
and  to  give  liberally. 

Toward  the  runaway  slave  Yv^ashington  was  severe.  He 
wished  that  the  northern  states  would  permit  men  of  the 
South  to  travel  in  them  with  their  attendants,  though  they 
might  be  slaves ;  and  he  earnestly  disapproved  of  the  interpo- 
sition of  the  philanthropist  between  the  slave  and  his  holder ; 
but,  while  expressing  these  opinions,  he  took  care  to  write, 
most  emphatically,  that  no  one  more  desired  universal  eman- 
cipation than  himself.  He  pressed  his  conviction  upon  the 
leading  politicians  in  Virginia  that  the  gradual  abolition  of 
slavery  "  certainly  might,  and  assuredly  ought  to,  be  effected ; 

*  From  entries  in  Washington's  unpublished  Diary. 


180  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  CH.vn. 

and  that,  too,  bj  legislative  authority."*  When  Coke  and 
Asbury,  the  first  superintendents  of  the  Methodists,  asked  him 
to  aid  their  petition  to  the  Yirginia  legislature  for  an  act  of 
universal  emancipation,  he  told  them  frankly  that  "he  was 
of  their  sentiments,  and,  should  this  petition  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration, he  would  signify  it  to  the  assembly  in  a  letter."  f 
Finding  that  the  legislature  of  the  state  would  not  entertain  a 
motion  to  do  away  with  slavery,  he  sought  to  devise  practica- 
ble plans  for  emancipating  his  own  negroes  and  providing  for 
himself  and  them;  not  succeeding,  he  secured  their  enfran- 
chisement by  his  will,  if 

The  hardships  of  the  camp  had  worn  upon  his  constitu- 
tion, and  he  was  persuaded  that  he  would  not  live  to  great 
age.*  The  price  of  health  to  him  from  day  to  day  was  to  pass 
much  of  the  time  in  the  open  air,  especially  on  horseback. 
Receiving  from  Europe  gifts  of  the  best  fox-hounds,  he  would 
join  in  the  chase,  sometimes  came  in  first,  but  delighted  most 
in  a  good  run  when  every  one  was  present  at  the  death. 

It  was  his  earliest  care  at  Mount  Yernon  to  arrange  his 
papers  relating  to  the  war  for  the  use  of  the  historian.  Being 
asked  to  write  his  commentaries,  he  answered :  "  If  I  had 
talents  for  it,  the  consciousness  of  a  defective  education,  and 
a  certainty  of  a  want  of  time,  unfit  me  for  such  an  under- 
taking." II 

Every  one  agreed  that  Washington's  "character  was  per- 
fectly amiable."  In  his  retirement  he  so  practiced  all  the  vir- 
tues of  private  life  that  the  synod  of  the  Presbyterians  held 
him  up  to  the  world  as  the  example  of  purity.  To  use  the 
words  of  one  who  knew  him  well,  "  The  breath  of  slander  never 
breathed  upon  him  in  his  life  nor  upon  his  ashes."  He  was 
generous  to  the  extent  of  his  means  and  beyond  them.    Young 

*  Sparks,  ix.,  163,  164.  f  Coke's  First  Journal,  45. 

I  Washin^iton  could  emancipate  his  own  slaves,  but  not  those  of  his  wife's 
estate ;  and  the  two  classes  were  linked  together  by  marriage  and  family  ties. 
To  this  difficulty  in  the  way  of  emancipating  his  own  negroes,  Madison  directed 
my  attention.  The  idea  has  prevailed  that  Washington  married  a  woman  of  for- 
tune. Her  first  husband  dying,  left  his  affairs  in  an  embarrassed  condition,  and 
they  certainly  remained  so  in  the  hands  of  his  executor  or  agent  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  and  probably  longer. 

#  Sparks,  ix.,  18.  B  Sparks,  ix.,  113. 


1783-1786.     CONGRESS  CONFESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS.      181 

persons  who  came  under  his  control  or  his  guardianship  he 
taught  method  in  their  expenses,  and  above  all  he  inculcated 
on  them  the  duty  of  husbanding  their  means  so  as  to  be  always 
able  and  ready  to  give. 

Washington  was  from  his  heart  truly  and  deeply  religious. 
His  convictions  became  more  intense  from  the  influence  of  the 
great  events  of  his  life  on  his  character.  As  he  looked  back 
upon  the  thick-set  dangers  through  which  he  had  steered,  we 
know  from  himself  that  he  could  not  but  feel  that  he  had  been 
sustained  by  "  the  all-powerful  guide  and  dispenser  of  human 
things."  '^  Of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  he  belonged 
decidedly  to  the  party  of  moderation,  and  "  had  no  desire  to 
open  a  correspondence  with  the  newly  ordained  bishop"  of 
Connecticut.!  Not  a  metaphysician  nor  an  analyzer  of  creeds, 
his  religious  faith  came  from  his  experience  in  action.  ISTo 
man  more  thorouglily  believed  in  the  overruling  Providence 
of  a  just  and  almighty  power ;  and  as  a  chemist  knows  that 
the  leaf  for  its  greenness  and  beauty  and  health  needs  the 
help  of  an  effluence  from  beyond  this  planet,  so  Washington 
beheld  in  the  movements  of  nations  a  marshalling  intelligence 
which  is  above  them  all,  and  which  gives  order  and  unity  to 
the  universe. 

Like  almost  every  great  warrior,  he  hated  war,  and  wished 
to  see  that  plague  to  mankind  banished  from  the  earth. :[:  "I 
never  expect  to  draw  my  sword  again,"  he  said  in  1785  to  one 
of  the  French  officers  who  had  served  in  America.  "  I  can 
scarcely  conceive  the  cause  that  would  induce  me  to  do  it. 
My  iirst  wish  is  to  see  the  whole  world  in  peace,  and  its  in- 
habitants one  band  of  brothers  ctriving  who  should  contribute 
most  to  the  happiness  of  mankind."  *  "  As  a  citizen  of  the 
great  republic  of  humanity,"  such  are  his  words,  "  I  indulge 
the  idea  that  the  period  is  not  remote  when  the  benefits  of  free 
commerce  will  succeed  the  devastations  and  horrors  of  w\^r."  [ 
He  loved  to  contemplate  human  nature  in  the  state  of  pro- 
gressive amelioration.^  His  faith  in  Providence  led  him  to 
found  that  hope  on  the  belief  that  justice  has  a  strength  of  its 

*  Sparks,  ix.,  21,  22.  «  Ibid.,  138,  139. 

f  Diary  for  Monday,  10  October  I'ZSS.  |  Ibid.,  193,  194. 

X  Sparks,  is.,  112, 113,  ^  Ibid.,  306. 


182   OE"  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONYENTION-.  e.ii.;  ch.  th. 

own  wliicli  will  by  degrees  command  respect  as  the  rule  for  all 
nations. 

He  wished  success  to  every  people  that  were  struggling  for 
Letter  days.  Afflicted  by  the  abject  penury  of  the  mass  of  the 
Irish, ^*  he  gave  them  his  sympathies.  A  hope  dawned  of  re- 
newed national  life  for  the  Greeks.  He  could  scarcely  con- 
ceive that  the  Turks  would  be  permitted  to  hold  any  of  their 
possessions  in  Europe,  f 

He  welcomed  with  enthusiasm  the  approach  of  the  French 
revolution,  and  at  an  early  day  pointed  out  the  danger  that 
menaced  the  king  and  his  only  avenue  of  safety;  saying: 
"  His  Most  Christian  Majesty  speaks  and  acts  in  a  style  not 
very  pleasing  to  republican  ears  or  to  republican  forms,  nor 
to  the  temper  of  his  own  subjects  at  this  day.  Liberty,  when 
it  begins  to  take  root,  is  a  plant  of  rapid  growth ;  the  checks 
he  endeavors  to  give  it,  however  warranted  by  ancient  usage, 
will  more  than  probably  kindle  a  flame  which  may  not  be 
easily  extinguished,  though  it  may  be  smothered  for  awhile  by 
the  armies  at  his  command  and  the  nobility  in  his  interest. 
When  a  people  are  oppressed  v/ith  taxes,  and  have  cause  to 
believe  that  there  has  been  a  misapplication  of  the  money,  they 
ill  brook  the  language  of  despotism."  :j: 

To  Lafayette,  whose  desire  to  signalize  himself  he  well  un- 
derstood, he  said :  "  Great  moderation  should  be  used  on  both 
sides ;  I  caution  you  against  running  into  extremes  and  preju- 
dicing your  cause."  * 

In  foreign  affairs  "Washington  inclined  neither  to  France 
nor  to  England  ;  his  system  of  politics  was  impartially  Ameri- 
can. At  home  he  Vv^as  devoted  to  no  state,  to  no  party.  His 
mind,  though  he  was  of  Virginia,  was  free  from  any  bias, 
northern  or  southern,  the  allegiance  of  his  heart  being  given 
to  United  America. 

At  Mount  Yemon,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  March  1785, 
the  joint  commissioners  of  the  two  states  divided  by  the  Poto- 
mac, George  Mason  and  Alexander  Henderson  of  Yirginia, 
Daniel  of  St.  Thomas  Jenifer,  Thomas  Stone,  and  Samuel 
Chase  of  Maryland,  met  under  the  auspices  of  Washington. 
As  his  near  neighbor,  intimate  friend,  and  old  political  asso- 

*  Sparks,  ix.,  398.  f  Ibid.,  360.  ^  I^id.,  332.  #  Ibid.,  381. 


1783-178G.    CONGRESS   CONFESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS.      183 

ciate,  Mason  submitted  to  his  influence  and  entered  with  zeal 
and  a  strong  sense  of  duty  into  the  movements  that  led  to 
union. 

The  commissioners  prepared  the  terms  of  a  compact  be- 
tween the  two  states  for  the  jurisdiction  over  the  waters  of  the 
Chesapeake  bay  and  the  rivers  that  were  common  to  both  states ; 
and,  conforming  to  the  wishes  of  Washington,  they  requested 
Pennsylvania  to  grant  the  free  use  of  the  branches  of  the  Ohio 
within  its  limits,  for  establishing  the  connection  between  that 
river  and  the  Potomac* 

The  primary  object  of  their  commission  being  fulfilled, 
they  took  up  matters  of  general  policy,  and  recommended  to 
the  two  states  a  uniformity  of  duties  on  imports,  a  uniformity 
of  commercial  regulations,  and  a  uniformity  of  currency.f 
George  Mason  was  charged  with  the  report  of  their  doings  to 
the  legislature  of  his  state. 

"When  the  assembly  of  Virginia  came  together,  congress 
and  the  country  were  rent  by  the  question  of  investing  con- 
gress with  an  adequate  power  over  trade.  The  eastern  and 
middle  states  were  zealous  for  the  measure  ;  the  southern  were 
divided  ;  Pennsylvania  had  established  duties  of  its  own,  with 
the  avowed  object  of  encouraging  domestic  manufactures ; 
South  Carolina  was  deliberating  on  the  distresses  of  her  com- 
merce. In  the  assembly  of  Virginia,  in  which  there  was  a 
great  conflict  of  opinion,  Madison  J  spoke  for  the  grant  of 
power  as  fraught  with  no  danger  to  the  liberties  of  the  states, 
and  as  needful  in  order  to  conduct  the  foreign  relations,  to  ar- 
rest contention  between  the  states,  to  prevent  enactments  of 
one  state  to  the  injury  of  another,  to  establish  a  system  intelli- 
gible to  foreigners  trading  with  the  United  States,  to  counter- 
act the  evident  design  of  Great  Britain  to  weaken  the  confed- 
eracy, and  to  preserve  the  federal  constitution,  which,  like  all 
other  institutions,  could  not  remain  long  after  it  should  cease 
to  be  useful.  The  dissolution  of  the  union  would  be  the  sig- 
nal for  standing  armies  in  the  several  states,  burdensome  and 
perpetual  taxes,  clashing  systems  of  foreign  politics,  and  an 
appeal   to  the  sword  in  every  petty  squabble.     "Washington 

*  Pennsylvania  Archives,  511.  f  Rives's  Madison,  ii,,  68. 

I  Notes  of  Madison's  speech  in  Madison,  i.,  201,  202. 


184  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ii.;  cn.yn. 

being  invited  to  offer  suggestions,^  answered  :  "  The  jproposi- 
tion  is  self-evident.  "We  are  either  a  united  people  or  we  are 
not  so.  If  the  former,  let  us  in  all  matters  of  general  concern 
act  as  a  nation  wliich  has  a  national  character  to  support."  f 
"  If  the  states  individually  attempt  to  regulate  commerce,  an 
abortion  or  a  manj-headed  monster  would  be  the  issue.  If 
we  consider  ourselves  or  wish  to  be  considered  by  others  as  a 
united  people,  why  not  adopt  the  measures  which  are  charac- 
teristic of  it,  and  support  the  honor  and  dignity  of  one  ?  If 
we  are  afraid  to  trust  one  another  under  qualified  powers,  there 
is  an  end  of  the  union."  J 

The  house  was  disposed  to  confide  to  congress  a  power  over 
trade ;  but,  by  the  stratagem  of  the  adversaries  of  the  resolu- 
tions, the  duration  of  the  grant  was  limited  to  thirteen  years. 
This  limitation,  which  was  reported  on  the  last  day  of  Novem- 
ber, took  from  the  movement  all  its  value.  "It  is  better,"  so 
wrote  Madison  to  Washington,  "  to  trust  to  further  experience, 
and  even  distress,  for  an  adequate  remedy  than  to  try  a  tem- 
porary measure  which  may  stand  in  the  vfay  of  a  permanent 
one.  The  difficulty  now  found  in  obtaining  a  unanimous  con- 
currence of  the  states  in  any  measure  must  increase  with  every 
increase  of  their  numbers."  * 

All  was  at  a  stand,  when  suddenly  a  ray  of  light  w^as  thrown 
upon  the  assembly  by  Maryland.  On  the  fifth  of  December 
the  adhesion  of  that  state  to  the  compact  relating  to  the  ju- 
risdiction of  the  waters  of  Chesapeake  bay  and  the  Potomac 
was  laid  before  Virginia,  which  without  delay  enacted  a  corre- 
sponding law  of  equal  liberality  and  precision.  ||  The  desire 
of  Maryland  was  likew^ise  announced  to  invite  the  concurrence 
of  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  in  a  plan  for  a  canal  between 
the  Chesapeake  and  the  Delaware ;  "  and  if  that  is  done,"  said 
Madison,  "  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  will  wish  the  same 
compliment  paid  to  their  neighbors."  But  the  immediate 
measure  of  Maryland  was  communicated  in  a  letter  from  its 
legislature  to  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  proposing  that  com- 

*  David  Stuart  to  Washington,  16  November  1'785. 

f  Sparks,  ix.,  145,  146.  X  Washington  to  Stuart,  30  November  1785. 

*  la  Elliot,  i.,  114,  the  resolutions  as  reported  on  the  30th  November  are  pub- 
lished as  Madison's ;  but  they  found  in  Madison  their  strongest  opponent.  Madi- 
son, i.,  205,  206,  and  compare  203.  |  Ilening,  xii.,  50,  55. 


1783-1786.    CONGRESS  CONFESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS.      185 

missioners  from  all  tlie  states  sliould  be  invited  to  meet  and 
regulate  the  restrictions  on  commerce  for  the  whole. '^*  Madi- 
son instantly  saw  the  advantage  of  "  a  politico-commercial  com- 
mission "  for  the  continent. 

Tyler,  the  late  speaker  of  the  house,  "  wished  congress  to 
have  the  "  entire  "  regulation  of  trade."  In  concert  with  him, 
a  resolution  was  drafted  by  Madison  for  the  appointment  of 
commissioners  from  Virginia  and  all  the  other  states  to  digest 
a  report  for  the  requisite  augmentation  of  the  powers  of  con- 
gress over  trade,  their  report  to  be  of  no  force  until  it  should 
be  unanimously  ratified  by  the  several  states.  Madison  kept 
in  reserve.  Tyler,  who,  having  never  served  in  the  federal 
council,  was  free  from  every  suspicion  of  inclining  to  grant  it 
too  much  power,  presented  the  resolution.  It  was  suffered  to 
lie  on  the  table  till  the  last  day  in  the  session ;  then,  on  the 
twenty-first  of  January  1786,  it  went  through  both  branches 
of  the  legislature  by  a  large  majority.  Among  the  commis- 
sioners who  were  chosen,  Madison  was  the  first  selection  on 
the  part  of  the  house.  The  commissioners  named  the  first 
Monday  of  September  for  the  day  of  their  meeting,  and  An- 
napolis as  the  place,  on  account  of  its  remoteness  from  the 
influences  of  congress  and  the  centres  of  trade.  The  invi- 
tations to  the  states  were  made  through  the  executive  of  Yir- 
ginia. 

On  the  twenty-second  Madison  wrote  to  Monroe:  "The 
expedient  is  better  than  nothing ;  and,  as  a  recommendation  of 
additional  powers  to  congress  is  within  the  purview  of  the 
commission,  it  may  possibly  lead  to  better  consequences  than  at 
first  occur."  f 

The  sixth  congress  could  not  be  organized  until  the  twenty- 
third  of  November  1785,  when,  seven  states  being  present, 
David  Eamsay  of  South  Carolina  was  elected  president.  For 
the  half  of  December  not  states  enough  were  present  to  do 
business.  So  soon  as  there  vfas  a  permanent  quorum,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  confederation  had  its  vices,  and  the  question 
of  policy  was :  Shall  these  vices  be  corrected  gradually  through 
congress,  or  at  once  and  completely  through  a  convention? 
Just  seventeen  days  after  Virginia  had  invited  the  states  to  a 

"  Stuart  to  Washington,  18  December  1T85.  f  Mcidison,  i.,  222. 


186   ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  COISrVENTIOK  b.  n. ;  ch.  vii. 

common  consultation  at  Annapolis,  Cliarles  Pinclmey  of  South 
Carolina,  in  a  motion  of  very  great  length,  ascribed  the  ex- 
tension of  the  commerce  and  the  security  of  the  liberties  of 
the  states  to  the  joint  efforts  of  the  whole  :  "  They  have,  there- 
fore," he  insisted,  "  wisely  determined  to  make  the  welfare  of 
the  union  their  first  object,  reflecting  that  in  all  federal  regula- 
tions something  must  be  yielded  to  aid  the  whole,  and  that 
those  who  expect  support  must  be  ready  to  afford  it."  *  The 
motion,  after  being  under  discussion  for  two  days,  was  referred 
to  a  committee  of  five.  On  tlie  fifteenth.  King,  Pinckney, 
Kean,  Monroe,  and  Pettit,  representatives  of  South  Carolina 
and  the  three  great  states,  reported :  "  The  requisitions  of  con- 
gress, for  eight  years  past,  have  been  so  irregular  in  their  oper- 
ation, so  uncertain  in  their  collection,  and  so  evidently  unpro- 
ductive, that  a  reliance  on  them  in  future  as  a  source  from 
whence  moneys  are  to  be  drawn  to  discharge  the  engagements 
of  the  confederacy  v/ould  be  not  less  dishonorable  to  the  un- 
derstandings of  those  who  entertain  such  confidence  than  dan- 
gerous to  the  welfare  and  peace  of  the  union.  The  committee 
are,  therefore,  seiiously  impressed  with  the  indispensable  ob- 
ligation that  congress  are  under  of  representing  to  the  imme- 
diate and  impartial  consideration  of  the  several  states  the  utter 
impossibility  of  maintaining  and  preserving  the  faith  of  the 
federal  government  by  temporary  requisitions  on  the  states, 
and  the  consequent  necessity  of  an  early  and  complete  accession 
of  all  the  states  to  the  revenue  system  of  the  eighteenth  of 
A^Yil  1783."  "After  the  most  solemn  deliberation,  and 
under  the  fullest  conviction  that  the  public  embarrassments  are 
such  as  above  represented,  and  that  they  are  daily  increasing, 
the  committee  are  of  opinion  that  it  has  become  the  duty  of 
congress  to  declare  most  explicitly  that  the  crisis  has  arrived 
when  the  people  of  these  United  States,  by  whose  will  and  for 
whose  benefit  the  federal  government  was  instituted,  must  de- 
cide whether  they  will  support  their  rank  as  a  nation  by  main- 
taining the  public  faith  at  home  and  abroad ;  or  whether,  for 
want  of  a  timely  exertion  in  establishing  a  general  revenue  and 
thereby  giving  strength  to  the  confederacy,  they  will  hazard 
not  only  the  existence  of  the  union,  but  of  those  great  and  in- 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  617. 


1783-1786.     COI^GRESS   CONFESSES  ITS   HELPLESSNESS.      187 

valuable  privileges  for  wliicli  they  liave  so  arduously  and  so 
honorably  contended."  * 

Tims  congress  put  itself  on  trial  before  the  country,  and 
the  result  of  the  year  was  to  decide  on  their  competency  to  be 
the  guardians  of  the  union  and  the  upholders  of  its  good  faith. 
They  must  either  exercise  negation  of  self  and  invite  the  states 
to  call  a  general  convention,  or  they  must  themselves  present 
to  the  country  for  its  approval  an  amended  constitution,  or 
they  must  find  out  how  to  make  their  own  powers  under  the 
confederation  work  efficiently.  Should  they  fail  in  all  the 
three,  they  will  have  given  an  irreversible  verdict  against  them- 
selves. The  course  of  events  relating  to  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  was  watched  by  the  country  more  carefully  than  ever 
before.  Far  and  wide  a  general  convention  was  become  the 
subject  of  thought ;  and  "  a  plan  for  it  was  forming,  though  it 
was  as  yet  immature."  f 

New  Jersey,  which  had  all  along  vainly  songht  the  protec- 
tion of  the  general  government  against  the  taxation  of  her  people 
by  a  local  duty  levied  on  all  their  importations  from  abroad  for 
their  own  consumption  throngh  the  port  of  New  York,  at  last 
kindled  with  a  sense  of  her  wrongs,  and  in  a  resentful  mood, 
on  the  twentieth  of  October  voted  by  a  very  large  majority 
that  she  would  pay  no  part  of  the  last  requisition  of  congress 
until  all  the  states  should  have  accepted  the  measure  of  an  im- 
post for  the  benefit  of  the  general  treasury.  Alarmed  at  this 
movement,  congress  deputed  Charles  Pinckney,  G-orham,  and 
Grayson  to  represent  to  the  legislature  of  New  Jersey  the  fatal 
consequences  that  must  inevitably  result  to  that  state  and  to 
the  union  from  their  refusal  to  comply  with  the  requisition  of 
the  last  congress.  Grayson  looked  upon  their  vote  as  little  else 
than  a  declaration  of  independence.  Again  Pinckney  of  South 
Carolina  took  the  lead,  and,  in  an  address  to  the  New  Jersey 
legislature  of  the  thirteenth  of  March,  this  was  part  of  his  lan- 
guage :  "  When  these  states  united,  convinced  of  the  inability 
of  each  to  support  a  separate  system  and  that  their  protection 
and  existence  depended  on  their  union,  policy  as  well  as  pru- 
dence dictated  the  necessity  of  forming  one  general  and  efficient 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  619,  620. 
f  Jay  to  Washington,  16  March  1786. 


188  ON"  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.ti.;  ch.vh. 

government,  which,  while  it  protected  and  secured  the  whole, 
left  to  the  several  states  those  rights  of  internal  sovereignty 
which  it  was  not  necessary  to  delegate  and  which  conld  be  exer- 
cised without  injury  to  the  federal  authority.  If  New  Jersey 
conceives  herself  oppressed  under  the  present  confederation, 
let  her,  through  her  delegates  in  congress,  state  to  them  the 
oppression  she  complains  of,  and  urge  the  calling  of  a  general 
convention  of  the  states  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the 
powers  of  the  federal  government  and  rendering  it  more  ade- 
quate for  the  ends  for  which  it  was  instituted ;  in  this  consti- 
tutional mode  of  application  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  her 
meeting  with  all  the  support  and  attention  she  can  wish.  I 
have  long  been  of  opinion  that  it  is  the  only  true  and  radical 
remedy  for  our  public  defects,  and  shall  with  pleasure  assent 
to  and  support  any  measure  of  that  land  which  may  be  intro- 
duced while  I  continue  a  member  of  that  body."  '^' 

Pleased  with  the  idea  of  a  general  convention,  New  Jersey 
recalled  its  vote,  accepted  within  a  week  the  invitation  of  Vir- 
ginia to  a  convention  at  Annapolis,  elected  its  commissioners, 
and  empowered  them  "to  considsr  how  far  a  uniform  system 
in  theu^  commercial  regulations  and  other  impoetant  matters 
might  be  necessary  to  the  common  interest  and  permanent  har- 
mony of  the  several  states ;  and  to  report  such  an  act  on  the 
subject  as,  when  ratified  by  them,  would  enable  the  United 
States  in  congress  assembled  euectually  to  provide  for  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  union."  f 

"  If  it  should  be  determined  that  the  reform  of  the  confed- 
eration is  to  be  made  by  a  convention,"  so  wrote  Monroe  at  this 
time  to  Madison,  "  the  powers  of  the  Virginia  commissioners 
who  are  to  go  to  Annapolis  are  inadequate."  J  Explaining 
why  more  extended  powers  had  not  been  given,  Madison  an- 
swered :  "  The  assembly  would  have  revolted  against  a  pleni- 
potentiary commission  to  their  dejDuties  for  the  convention; 
the  option  lay  between  doing  what  was  done  and  doing  noth- 
ing." # 

*  Carey's  Museum,  ii.,  155.     Otto  to  Vergcnnes,  IT  March  1YS6.     Report  of 
Berlholir,  the  Austrian  agent.  f  Elliot,  i.,  11 7,  118. 

I  This  letter  from  Monroe,  of  a  date  previous  to  19  March  1786,  is  missing. 
Its  contents  are  known  only  from  the  citation  of  it  by  JIadison. 

*  Madison  to  Monroe,  19  March  1786.     Madison,  i.,  228,  229. 


1783-1786.    OOITGRESS  C0:N"FESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS.      189 

"  There  have  been  serious  thoughts  in  the  minds  of  mem- 
bers of  congress,"  wrote  Grajson  to  Madison,  "  to  recommend 
to  the  states  the  meeting  of  a  general  convention  to  consider 
of  an  alteration  of  the  confederation,  and  there  is  a  motion 
to  that  eSect  under  consideration.  I  have  not  made  up  my 
mind  whether  it  is  not  ^  better  to  bear  the  ills  we  have  than 
fly  to  others  we  know  not  of.'  I  am,  however,  in  no  doubt 
about  the  weakness  of  the  federal  government.  If  it  re- 
mains much  longer  in  its  present  state  of  imbecility,  we  shall 
be  one  of  the  most  contemptible  nations  on  the  face  of  the 
earth."  * 

The  subject  lingered  in  congress  till  the  third  of  May. 
Then  South  Carolina  for  a  third  time  raised  her  voice,  and 
Charles  Pinckney  moved  that  a  grand  committee  be  appointed 
on  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  "  It  is  necessary,"  he  said,  "  to 
inform  the  states  of  our  condition.  Congress  must  be  invested 
with  greater  powers,  or  the  federal  government  must  fall.  It 
is,  therefore,  necessary  for  congress  either  to  appoint  a  conven- 
tion for  that  purpose,  or  by  requisition  to  call  on  the  states  for 
such  powers  as  are  necessary  to  enable  it  to  administer  the  fed- 
eral government."  Among  some  of  the  defects  in  the  confed- 
eration which  he  enumerated  were,  the  want  of  powers  for 
regulating  commerce,  for  raising  troops,  and  for  executing 
those  powers  that  were  given.  Monroe  replied:  "Congress 
has  full  power  to  raise  troops,  and  has  a  right  to  compel  com- 
pliance with  every  requisition  which  does  not  go  beyond  the 
powers  with  which  it  is  invested  by  the  confederation.  All 
the  states  but  l^ew  York  have  invested  congress  with  commer- 
cial powers,  and  New  York  is  at  this  time  framing  an  act  en 
the  subject.  I,  therefore,  see  no  occasion  for  a  convention." 
The  discussion  was  continued  at  great  length,  and  the  matter 
referred  to  a  committee  of  the  whole,  f  But  the  discussion 
brought  congress  no  nearer  to  the  recommendation  of  a  general 
convention ;  its  self-love  refused  to  surrender  any  of  its  func- 
tions, least  of  all  on  the  ground  of  its  own  incapacity  to  dis- 
charge them. 

Should  congress  tlien  of  itself  lay  a  revision  of  the  articles 
of  confederation  before  the  states  for  their  acceptance  ?     Here 

*  Grayson  to  Madison,  22  March  1780.  f  Thomas  Rodney's  Journal. 


190  ON  TPIE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION",  b.il;  oii.vii. 

Grayson,  surveying  liis  colleagues  witli  a  discerning  eye,  at 
once  convinced  himself  tliat  congress  conld  never  agree  on 
amendmentsj  even  among  themselves.*  For  himself,  he  held 
it  essential  that  the  general  government  should  have  power  to 
regulate  commerce ;  to  prohibit  the  states  from  issuing  paper 
money ;  to  prohibit  the  slave-trade ;  to  fix  the  site  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  the  centre  of  the  union,  that  is  to  say,  near  George- 
toAvn ;  and  to  change  the  method  of  voting  by  states  to  a  vote 
according  to  population.  Of  effecting  these  reforms  he  had  no 
hope.  He  was  sure  if  the  question  of  commerce  should  be 
settled,  Massachusetts  would  be  satisfied  and  refuse  to  go  further. 
"  Pinckney,  the  champion  of  powers  over  commerce,"  he  said, 
"  will  be  astounded  when  he  meets  with  a  proposition  to  pre- 
vent the  states  from  importing  any  more  of  the  seed  of  Cain." 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  would  feel  themselves  aggrieved 
if,  by  a  national  compact,  the  sessions  of  congress  should  always 
be  held  in  the  centre  of  the  empire.  Neither  Maryland,  nor 
Rhode  Island,  nor  New  Jersey,  would  like  to  surrender  its 
equal  vote  for  one  proportioned  to  its  real  importance  in  the 
Union.  Grayson,  therefore,  did  not  "  think  it  would  be  for 
the  advantage  of  the  union  that  the  convention  at  Annapolis 
should  produce  anything  decisive,"  since  it  was  restricted  in 
its  scope  to  commerce,  and  the  question  which  he  proposed  to 
Madison  was :  "  The  state  of  Virginia  having  gone  thus  far, 
had  she  not  better  go  further  and  propose  to  the  other  states 
to  augment  the  powers  of  the  delegates  so  as  to  comprehend 
all  the  grievances  of  the  union  ? "  f 

But  Pinckney  of  South  Carolina  was  not  daunted.  Fail- 
ing to  secure  the  vote  of  congress  for  a  general  convention,  he 
next  obtained  the  appointment  of  a  grand  committee  "  to  re- 
port such  amendments  to  the  confederation  as  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  reconnnend  to  the  several  states  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
taining from  them  such  powers  as  will  render  the  federal  gov- 
ernment adequate  to  the  ends  for  which  it  was  instituted." 
Congress,  in  a  committee  of  the  whole,  devoted  seven  days  of 
July  and  six  of  August  to  the  solution  of  the  great  question, 
and  before  the  end  of  August  the  report,  which  was  made  by 
a  sub-committee  consisting  of  Pinckney,  Dane,  and  Johnson, 

*  Grayson  to  Madison,  28  May  IVSG.  f  Ibid. 


1783-1736.     OONGKESS  CONFESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS.      191 

and  accepted  by  a  grand  committee,  received  its  final  amended 
form.* 

To  the  original  thirteen  articles  of  confederation  seven  new 
ones  were  added. 

The  United  States  were  to  regulate  foreign  and  domestic 
trade  and  collect  duties  on  imports,  but  without  violating  the 
constitutions  of  the  states.  The  revenue  collected  was  to  be 
paid  to  the  state  in  which  it  should  accrue. 

Congress,  on  making  requisitions  on  the  states,  was  to  fix 
"  the  proper  periods  when  the  states  shall  pass  legislative  acts 
giving  full  and  complete  effect  to  the  same."  In  case  of  neg- 
lect, the  state  was  to  be  charged  at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent 
per  annum  on  its  quota  in  money,  and  twelve  per  cent  on  the 
ascertained  average  expenses  on  its  quota  of  land  forces. 

If  a  state  should,  for  ten  months,  neglect  to  pass  laws  in 
compliance  with  the  requisition,  and  if  a  majority  of  the  states 
should  have  passed  such  laws,  then,  but  not  till  then,  the  reve- 
nue required  by  congress  was  to  be  apportioned  on  towns  or 
counties  and  collected  by  the  collectors  of  the  last  state  tax. 
Should  they  refuse  to  act,  congress  might  appoint  others  with 
similar  rights  and  powers,  and  v/ith  full  power  and  authority 
to  enforce  the  collections.  Should  a  state,  or  citizens  without 
the  disaj^proval  of  the  state,  offer  opposition,  the  conduct  of 
the  state  was  to  be  considered  "  as  an  open  violation  of  the  fed- 
eral compact." 

Interest  was  to  be  allowed  on  advances  by  states  and  charged 
on  arrears. 

A  new  system  of  revenue  could  be  established  by  eleven 
states  out  of  the  thirteen ;  and  so  in  proportion  as  the  number 
of  states  might  increase. 

The  United  States  were  to  have  the  sole  and  exclusive 
power  to  define  and  punish  treason  against  them,  misprision  of 
treason,  piracy  or  felonies  on  the  high  seas,  and  to  institute, 
by  appointments  from  the  different  parts  of  the  union,  a  fed- 
eral court  of  seven  judges,  of  whom  four  would  constitute  a 
quorum,  to  hear  a^^peals  from  the  state  courts  on  matters  con- 

*  From  reports  of  the  committee.  These  amended  resolutions  may  well  be 
taken  as  representing  the  intentions  of  Charles  Pinckncy  at  that  time.  A  copy  of 
them,  very  greatly  abridged,  is  preserved  in  the  French  archives. 


192  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  C0NVENTI02T.  b.ii.;  cn.vii. 

cerning  treaties  witli  foreign  powers,  or  tlie  law  of  nations,  or 
commerce,  or  tlie  federal  revenues,  or  important  questions 
wherein  the  United  States  should  be  a  party. 

To  enforce  the  attendance  of  members  of  congress,  a  state 
might  punish  its  faulty  delegate  by  a  disquahfication  to  hold 
office  under  the  United  States  or  any  state. 

These  resolutions,  though  most  earnestly  discussed  in  con- 
gress, were  left  to  repose  among  its  countless  reports.  They 
did  not  offer  one  eifective  remedy  for  existing  evils;  they 
never  could  win  a  majority  in  congress ;  no  one  fancied  that 
they  could  obtain  the  unanimous  assent  of  the  states;  and, 
could  they  have  gained  it,  the  articles  of  confederation  would 
have  remained  as  feeble  as  before.  Still  less  was  it  possible 
for  congress  to  raise  an  annual  revenue.  The  country  was  in 
arrears  for  the  interest  on  its  funded  debt,  and  in  the  last  two 
years  had  received  not  more  than  half  a  million  dollars  in 
specie  from  all  the  states — a  sum  not  sufficient  for  the  annual 
ordinary  charges  of  the  federal  government.  Pennsylvania 
had  complied  with  the  late  requisitions  almost  with  exactitude ; 
Maryland  and  Virginia  had  furnished  liberal  supplies;  New 
York  exerted  herself,  and  successfully,  by  the  aid  of  her  cus- 
tom-house ;  but  Massachusetts  and  all  the  other  I^ew  England 
states  were  in  arrears,  and  the  three  southernmost  states  had 
paid  little  money  since  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war.  Con- 
gress confessed  that  it  could  not  raise  a  revenue  unless  meas- 
ures were  adopted  for  funding  the  foreign  and  domestic  debts, 
and  they  went  back  to  the  system  framed  by  Madison  in  April 
1783 ;  but  the  success  of  that  measure  depended  on  a  unani- 
mous grant  of  new  power  to  the  general  government.  All  the 
states  except  J^ew  York  had  assented  to  the  principle  of  deriv- 
ing a  federal  revenue  from  imports,  though  the  assenting  acts 
of  a  majority  of  them  still  required  modifications.  Congress 
saw  fit  to  assume  that  nothing  remained  but  to  obtain  the  con- 
sent of  that  one  state. 

In  March  a  meeting  of  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  !N"ew 
York  unanimously  petitioned  the  legislature  to  consent  to  the 
system  which  alone  could  give  energy  to  the  union  or  pros- 
perity to  commerce.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  contended  that 
the  confederation  and  the  constitution  of  each  state  are  the 


1783-1786.    CONGRESS  CONFESSES  ITS  HELPLESSNESS.      193 

foundations  whicli  neitlier  congress  nor  the  legislatures  of  tlie 
states  can  alter,  and  on  which  it  is  the  duty  of  both  to  build ; 
that  the  surrender  to  congress  of  an  independent  authority  to 
levy  duties  would  be  the  surrender  of  an  authority  that  inheres 
necessarily  in  the  respective  legislatures  of  each  state  ;  that 
deviation  from  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  American 
constitutions  would  be  ruinous,  first,  to  the  liberty  of  the  states, 
and  then  to  their  existence  ;  that  congress,  already  holding  in 
one  hand  the  sword,  would  hold  in  the  other  the  purse,  and 
concentrate  in  itseK  the  sovereignty  of  the  thirteen  states ;  that 
it  is  the  division  of  the  great  republic  into  different  republics 
of  a  middling  size  and  confederated  laws  which  save  it  from 
despotism.* 

The  legislature  of  New  York  conformed  to  these  opinions, 
and,  while  on  the  fourth  of  May  it  imposed  the  duty  of  five 
per  cent,  it  reserved  to  itself  the  revenue  with  the  sole  right 
of  its  collection.  Nor  was  it  long  before  Pennsylvania,  which 
held  a  large  part  of  the  public  debt,  suspended  its  adhesion  to 
the  revenue  plan  of  congress  unless  it  should  include  supple- 
mentary funds.  In  August,  King  and  Monroe  were  dispatched 
by  congress  to  confer  with  its  legislature.  It  is  on  record  that 
the  speech  of  King  was  adapted  to  insure  applause  even  from 
an  Attic  audience ;  f  but  the  subject  was  referred  to  the  next 
assembly. 

Congress  joined  battle  more  earnestly  with  New  York. 
They  recommended  the  executive  to  convene  its  legislature 
immediately  for  the  purpose  of  granting  the  impost.  The 
governor  made  reply :  "I  have  not  power  to  convene  the  legis- 
lature except  on  extraordinary  occasions,  and,  as  the  present 
business  has  repeatedly  been  laid  before  them,  and  has  so  re- 
cently received  their  determination,  it  cannot  come  within 
that  description."  Congress  repeated  its  demand,  and  it  only 
served  to  call  from  Clinton  a  firm  renewal  of  his  refusal.  The 
strife  had  degenerated  into  an  altercation  which  only  estab- 
lished before  the  country  that  congress,  though  it  would  not 
call  a  convention  and  could  not  of  itself  frame  fit  amend- 
ments to  the  confederation,  had  not  power  to  raise  an  annual 

*  Report  of  the  Austrian  agent,  Bertholff,  1  April  1786.     MS. 
f  Henry  Hill  to  Washington,  1  October  1V86. 

TOL.  VI. — 13 


194:  OX  THE  WxiY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVEiTTION-.  b.  ii.  ;  ch.  vii. 

revenue  for  the  wants  of  the  government  at  home,  or  to  rescue 
the  honor  of  the  nation  from  default  in  payments  of  interest 
on  moneys  borrowed  to  secure  their  independence. 

The  need  of  reform  extended  equally  to  the  relation  of  the 
republic  to  foreign  powers.  Congress  had  no  other  means  of 
fulfilling  its  treaty  obligations  than  through  the  good-will  and 
concurrence  of  every  one  of  the  states ;  though  in  theory  the 
articles  of  confederation  presented  the  United  States  to  all 
other  states  a3  one  nation. 

The  difiiculty  which  caused  these  perpetual  failures  was  in- 
herent and  incurable.  Congress  undertook  to  enact  requisi- 
tions, and  then  direct  the  legislatures  of  thirteen  independent 
states  to  pass  laws  to  give  them  effect,  itself  remaining  help- 
less till  they  should  do  so.  A  deliberative  body  ordering  an- 
other independent  deliberative  body  what  laws  to  make  is  an 
anomaly ;  and,  in  the  case  of  congress,  the  hopelessness  of  har- 
mony was  heightened  by  the  immense  extent  of  the  United 
States,  by  the  differences  of  time  when  the  legislatures  of  the 
several  states  convened,  and  by  a  conflict  of  the  interests,  pas- 
sions, hesitancies,  and  wills  of  thirteen  legislatures,  independent 
of  each  other  and  uncontrolled  by  a  common  head.  'No  ray 
of  hope  remained  but  from  the  convention  which  Yirginia 
had  invited  to  assemble  on  the  first  Monday  in  September  at 
Annapolis. 


1786.      VIRGINIA'S  INVITATION  TO  A  CONVENTION.       195 


CHAPTEE  YIIL 

vntginia  mvites  deputies  of  the  several  legislatures  of 
the  states  to  meet  in  convention. 

September  1786  to  May  1787. 

Congress  having  confessedly  failed  to  find  ways  and  means 
for  carrying  on  the  government,  the  convention  which  had 
been  called  to  Annapolis  became  the  ground  of  hope  for  the 
nation.  The  house  of  delegates  of  Maryland  promptly  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  of  Virginia,  but  the  senate,  in  its  zeal  to 
strengthen  the  appeal  which  congress  was  then  addressing  to 
the  states  for  a  revenue,  refused  its  concurrence.  Neither 
Connecticut,  nor  South  Carolina,  nor  Georgia  sent  delegates 
to  the  meeting.  In  Massachusetts  two  sets  of  nominees, 
among  whom  appears  the  name  of  George  Cabot,  declined  the 
service ;  the  third  were,  like  the  Rhode  Island  delegates,  ar- 
rested on  the  way  by  tidings  that  the  convention  was  over. 

Every  one  of  the  commissioners  chosen  for  New  York, 
among  whom  were  Egbert  Benson  and  Hamilton,  was  en- 
grossed by  pressing  duties.  Egbert  Benson,  the  guiding  states- 
man in  the  Hartford  convention  of  1780,  was  engaged  as 
attorney-general  in  the  courts  at  Albany.  With  Schloss  IIo- 
bart,  the  upright  judge,  he  agreed  that  the  present  opportunity 
for  obtaining  a  revision  of  the  system  of  general  government 
ought  not  to  be  neglected.  He  therefore  consigned  his  pub- 
lic business  to  a  friend,  reported  the  conversation  with  Schloss 
Hobart  to  Hamilton  in  New  York,  and  repaired  with  him  to 
Annapolis.  There,  on  the  eleventh  of  September,  they  found 
Madison  with  the  commissioners  of  Virginia  aiming  at  a  pleni- 
potentiary general  convention,  and  commissioners  from  New 


196  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.  ii.  ;  ch.  viii. 

Jersey  instructed  by  their  legislature  to  be  content  with  noth- 
ing less  than  a  new  federal  government,  No  state  north  of 
'New  York  was  represented,  and  no  one  south  of  Delaware 
save  Virginia.  It  was  a  meeting  of  central  states.  One 
thought  animated  the  assembly.  Dickinson,  a  principal  author 
of  the  articles  of  confederation,  was  unanimously  elected  chair- 
man ;  and,  with  the  same  unanimity,  a  committee  was  raised 
to  prepare  a  report.  Hamilton,  though  not  of  the  committee, 
made  a  draft ;  this  the  convention  employed  two  days  in  con- 
sidering and  amending,  when  the  resulting  form  was  unani- 
mously adopted.  In  clear  and  passionless  language  they  ex- 
pressed their  conviction  that  it  would  advance  the  interests  of 
the  union  if  the  states  which  they  represented  would  agree, 
and  use  their  endeavors  to  procure  the  concurrence  of  the 
other  states  to  agree,  "  to  meet  at  Philadelphia  on  the  second 
Monday  of  the  next  May  to  consider  the  situation  of  the 
United  States,  and  devise  such  further  provisions  as  should 
appear  necessary  to  render  the  constitution  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  union ;  and  to  re- 
port to  congress  such  an  act  as,  when  agreed  to  by  them  and 
confirmed  by  the  legislatures  of  every  state,  would  effectually 
provide  for  the  same."  *  The  proposition  was  explicit ;  the 
place  for  meeting  wisely  chosen ;  and  the  time  within  which 
congress  and  the  thirteen  states  must  decide  and  the  conven- 
tion meet  for  its  work  was  limited  to  less  than  eight  months. 

In  a  few  days  the  report,  signed  by  the  venerated  name  of 
Dickinson,  was  received  by  congress ;  but  the  delegation  from 
Massachusetts,  led  by  King,  prevented  the  recommendation  of 
the  measure  which  the  deputations  at  Annapolis  had  asked 
for.f  The  governor  of  l!^ew  York  was  of  opinion  that  the 
confederation  as  it  stood  was  equal  to  the  purposes  of  the 
imion,  or,  with  little  alteration,  could  be  made  so ;  and  that  the 
commissioners  from  New  York  should  have  confined  them- 
selves to  the  purposes  of  their  errand.  J 

On  the  tenth  of  October  Kuf us  King  appeared  before  the 
house  of  representatives  of  Massachusetts,  and,  in  the  presence 
of  an  audience  which  crowded  the  galleries,  insisted  that  the 

*  Elliot,  i.,  117-120.  f  Carrington  to  Madison,  18  December  1786. 

X  Hamilton,  vi.,  605. 


1786.       VIRGINIA'S  INVITATION  TO  A  CONVENTION.       197 

confederation  was  the  act  of  the  people ;  that  no  part  could 
be  altered  but  on  the  initiation  of  congress  and  the  confirma- 
tion of  all  the  several  legislatures  ;  if  the  work  should  be  done 
by  a  convention,  no  legislature  could  have  a  right  to  confirm 
it ;  congress,  and  congress  only,  was  the  proper  body  to  pro- 
pose alterations.  In  these  views  he  was,  a  few  days  later,  sup- 
ported by  Kathan  Dane.  The  house  of  representatives,  con- 
forming to  this  advice,  refused  to  adopt  the  suggestions  that 
came  from  Annapolis ;  and  there  was  not  to  be  another  session 
before  the  time  proposed  for  the  general  convention  at  Phila- 
delphia."^ 

From  this  state  of  despair  the  country  was  lifted  by  Madi- 
son and  Virginia.  The  recommendation  of  a  plenipotentiary 
convention  was  well  received  by  the  assembly  of  Virginia. 
The  utter  failure  of  congress  alike  in  administration  and  in 
reform,  the  rapid  advances  of  the  confederation  toward  ruin, 
at  length  proselyted  the  most  obstinate  adversaries  to  a  politi- 
cal renovation.  On  the  motion  of  Madison,  the  assembly, 
showing  the  revolution  of  sentiment  which  the  experience  of 
one  year  had  effected,  gave  its  unanimous  sanction  to  the  recom- 
mendation from  Annapolis. t  "We  come  now  upon  the  week 
glorious  for  Virginia  beyond  any  event  in  its  annals,  or  in  the 
history  of  any  former  republic.  Madison  had  been  calm  and 
prudent  and  indefatigable,  always  acting  with  moderation,  and 
always  persistent  of  purpose.  The  hour  was  come  for  frank 
and  bold  words,  and  decisive  action.  Madison,  giving  effect  to 
his  own  long-cherished  wishes  and  the  still  earlier  wishes  of 
VTashington,  addressing  as  it  were  the  whole  country  and  mar- 
shalling all  the  states,  recorded  the  motives  to  the  action  of  his 
own  commonwealth  in  these  words : 

"  The  commissioners  who  assembled  at  Annapolis,  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  September  last,  for  the  purpose  of  devising 
and  reporting  the  means  of  enabling  congress  to  provide  ef- 
fectually for  the  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States, 
have  represented  the  necessity  of  extending  the  revision  of  the 
federal  system  to  all  its  defects,  and  have  recommended  that 
deputies  for  that  purpose  be  appointed  by  the  several  legisla- 
tures, to  meet  in  convention  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  the 

*  CarriDgton  to  Madison,  18  December  1786.  f  Madison,  i.,  259. 


198  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.  ii.  ;  en.  viii. 

secor.d  daj  of  May  next — a  provision  preferable  to  a  discussion 
of  the  subject  in  congress,  where  it  might  be  too  much  inter- 
rupted by  ordinary  business,  and  where  it  would,  besides,  be  de- 
prived of  the  counsels  of  individuals  Avho  are  restrained  from  a 
seat  in  that  assembly.  The  general  assembly  of  this  common- 
wealth, taking  into  view  the  situation  of  the  confederacy,  as 
well  as  reflecting  on  the  alarming  representations  made  from 
time  to  time  by  the  United  States  in  congress,  particularly  in 
their  act  of  the  fifteenth  day  of  February  last,  can  no  longer 
doubt  that  the  crisis  is  arrived  at  which  the  people  of  America 
are  to  decide  the  solemn  question  whether  they  will,  by  wise  and 
magnanimous  efforts,  reap  the  fruits  of  independence  and  of 
union,  or  whether,  by  giving  way  to  unmanly  jealousies  and 
prejudices,  or  to  partial  and  transitory  interests,  they  will  re- 
nounce the  blessings  prepared  for  them  by  the  revolution.  The 
same  noble  and  extended  policy,  and  the  same  fraternal  and  af- 
fectionate sentiments  which  originally  determined  the  citizens 
of  this  commonwealth  to  unite  Vv^ith  their  brethren  of  the  other 
states  in  establishing  a  federal  government,  cannot  but  be  felt 
with  equal  force  now  as  motives  to  lay  aside  every  inferior 
consideration,  and  to  concur  in  such  further  concessions  and 
provisions  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  the  objects  for  which 
that  government  was  instituted,  and  render  the  United  States 
as  happy  in  peace  as  they  have  been  glorious  in  warJ' 

Such  is  the  preamble  adopted  without  a  dissenting  voice 
by  the  general  assembly  of  the  commonwealth  of  Yirginia,  as 
they  acceded  to  the  proposal  from  Annapolis  with  this  one 
variation,  that  the  new  federal  constitution,  after  it  should  be 
agreed  to  by  congress,  was  to  be  established,  not  by  the  legis- 
latures of  the  states,  but  by  the  states  themselves,  thus  opening 
the  way  for  special  conventions  of  the  several  states. 

In  selecting  her  own  delegates,  Yirginia  placed  Washing- 
ton at  their  head,  surrounded  by  Madison,  Randolph,  and  Ma- 
son. Randolph,  the  newly  elected  governor  of  the  state, 
adopting  words  of  Washington,  sent  the  act  of  his  state  to 
congress,  and  to  the  executive  of  each  one  of  the  states  in  the 
union,  asking  their  concurrence. 

Hardly  had  the  tardy  post  of  that  day  brought  the  glad- 
dening news  to  "New  Jersey,  when  that  state,  first  of  the 


1786-1787.  VIRGINIA'S  INVITATION  TO  A  CONVENTION.    199 

twelve,  on  the  twenty-third  of  IN'ovember,  took  its  place  at  the 
side  of  Yirginia.  Pennsylvania  did  not  let  the  year  go  by 
■without  joining  them.  North  Carolina  acceded  in  January 
1787,  and  Delaware  in  February  of  the  following  year. 

The  solemn  words  of  Yirginia,  the  example  of  the  three 
central  states,  the  inspiring  influence  of  Hamilton,  the  return 
to  congress  of  Madison  who  was  preparing  himself  for  the 
convention  and  professed  great  expectations  of  good  effects 
from  the  measure,  caused  the  scales  to  fall  from  the  eyes 
of  King.  The  year  was  but  six  weeks  old  when  he  wrote 
to  Gerry,  who  had  thus  far  been  his  ally:  "Although  my 
sentiments  are  the  same  as  to  the  legality  of  the  measure, 
I  think  we  ought  not  to  oppose,  but  to  coincide  with  this 
project.  Events  are  hurrying  ns  to  a  crisis.  Prudent  and 
sagacious  men  should  be  ready  to  seize  the  most  favorable 
circumstances  to  establish  a  more  perfect  and  vigorous  gov- 
ernment." * 

A  grand  committee  of  the  seventh  congress  reported  in 
February,  by  a  bare  majority  of  one,  that,  "  entirely  coinciding 
with  the  proceedings  of  the  commissioners,  they  did  strongly 
recommend  to  the  different  legislatures  to  send  forward  dele- 
gates to  the  proposed  convention  at  Philadelphia ; "  but  they 
never  ventured  to  ask  for  a  vote  upon  their  report.  Meantime, 
the  legislature  of  New  York,  in  an  instruction  to  their  dele- 
gates Id  congress,  taking  no  notice  of  the  meeting  at  Annapolis, 
recommended  a  general  convention  to  be  initiated  by  congress 
itself.  The  proposition,  as  brought  forward  by  the  New  York 
delegates,  named  no  place  or  time  for  the  convention,  and  knew 
nothing  of  any  acts  which  had  not  proceeded  from  congress. 
It  failed  by  a  large  majority.  King  of  Massachusetts,  seizing 
the  opportunity  to  reconcile  his  present  coalition  with  Madison 
and  Hamilton  with  his  old  opinion  that  congress  alone  could 
initiate  a  reform  of  the  constitution,  substituted  a  motion  which 
carefully  ignored  the  act  of  the  meeting  at  Annapolis,  and 
recommended  a  convention  as  an  original  measure  of  congress, 
but  identical  in  time  and  place  with  the  appointment  of  the 
Annapolis  commissioners.  This  motion,  which  was  so  framed 
as  not  to  invalidate  elections  already  made,  was  accepted  without 

*  Austin's  Gerry,  ii.,  3, 4,  7,  and  8. 


200  ON  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  b.  ii. ;  oh.  viii. 

opposition.^  In  this  way  tlie  seK-love  of  congress  was  appeased, 
and  its  authority  arrayed  in  favor  of  a  general  convention. 

All  parties  in  the  legislature  of  !New  York  then  took  up 
the  subject  of  representation  in  the  convention.  Yates,  in  the 
senate,  proposed  that  "  the  new  provisions  in  the  articles  of 
confederation  should  not  be  repugnant  to  or  inconsistent  with 
the  constitution  of  the  state."  The  motion  was  rejected  by  the 
casting  vote  of  the  president.  The  house  would  have  appointed 
-Qyo  delegates  to  the  convention,  but  the  inflexible  senate  lim- 
ited the  number  to  three,  and  named  Yates,  Lansing,  and  Ham- 
ilton, who  were  elected  in  both  branches  without  opposition. 

In  1786,  the  sufferings  of  the  debtors  in  Massachusetts,  es- 
pecially in  its  central  and  western  counties,  embittered  by  the 
devices  of  attorneys  to  increase  their  own  emoluments,  and  ag- 
grieved by  the  barbarous  laws  of  that  day  which  doomed  the 
debtor,  however  innocent,  to  imprisonment  at  the  caprice  of  his 
creditor,  had  driven  them  to  interrupt  the  courts  in  "Worces- 
ter. In  the  three  western  counties  measures  were  taken  to 
close  the  courts ;  and  once,  for  a  moment,  the  national  armory 
at  Springfield  was  menaced.  The  movement  assumed  the  as- 
pect of  an  insurrection,  almost  of  a  rebelHon,  which  received 
support  even  from  husbandmen  otherwise  firm  supporters  of 
the  law.  The  measures  of  Bowdoin,  in  which  he  was  through- 
out supported  by  Samuel  Adams,  were  marked  by  decision, 
celerity,  and  lenity.  The  real  cause  of  the  distress  was,  in  part, 
the  failure  of  the  state  of  Massachusetts  itself  to  meet  its  obli- 
gations ;  and,  still  more,  the  bankruptcy  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, which  owed  large  sums  of  money  to  inhabitants  of  almost 
every  town  for  service  in  achieving  the  independence  of  their 
country.  Wherever  the  insurgents  gathered  in  numbers,  Bow- 
doin sent  a  larger  force  than  they  could  muster.  In  this  way 
he  gave  authority  to  every  branch  of  the  government  and  peace 
to  every  town.  He  maintained  the  majesty  of  the  law  by  open- 
ing the  courts  for  the  conviction  of  the  worst  offenders ;  but, 
interposing  with  his  prerogative  of  mercy,  he  did  not  suffer  the 
life  of  any  one  of  them  to  be  taken.  For  the  restoration  of 
the  public  and  private  finances,  he  called  together  the  legisla- 
ture of  the  commonwealth,  which  applauded  his  conduct,  and 

*  Journals,  iv.,  723,  724.     Gilpin,  587,  588,  619,  620.     Elliot,  v.,  96,  106. 


1T87.      YIRGmiA'S  INVITATION  TO  A  CONVENTION.       201 

fulfilled  the  long  desire  of  liis  heart.  On  the  twentj-second  of 
February  1787,  six  days  in  advance  of  New  York,  and  as  yet 
in  ignorance  of  what  had  been  done  in  congress,  they  acceded 
to  the  invitation  from  Annapolis.-  Before  its  delegates  were 
chosen,  the  recommendation  of  a  convention  by  that  body  was 
known ;  and  Bowdoin,  in  their  commissions,  wisely  made  use 
of  the  words  of  congress. 

The  two  southern  states  chose  their  delegates  to  the  conven- 
tion in  April.  Connecticut  waited  for  its  day  of  election  in 
May.  Then  Elizur  Goodrich,  the  preacher  of  the  election 
sermon,  proved  from  one  of  the  prophets  of  Israel  the  duty  of 
strengthening  the  national  union  and  restoring  the  national 
honor,  or  they  would  be  obhged  themselves  to  repeat  the  lam- 
entation that  "  from  the  daughter  of  Zion  all  her  beauty  was  de- 
partedo"  "  Gentlemen,"  he  broke  out  to  those  to  whom  he  was 
preaching, "  Heaven  unite  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  Amer- 
ica in  the  proposed  convention  of  the  states  in  some  equal  sys- 
tem of  federal  subordination  and  sovereignty  of  the  states."  On 
the  twelfth,  Samuel  Huntington,  the  governor,  addressing  the 
legislature,  recommended  a  superintending  power  that  should 
secure  peace  and  justice  between  the  states,  and  between  all  the 
states  and  foreign  nations.  "  I  am,"  he  said,  "  an  advocate  for 
an  efficient  general  government,  and  for  a  revenue  adequate 
to  its  nature  and  its  exigencies.  Should  the  imposts  be  carried 
to  excess,  it  will  promote  the  growth  of  manufacture  among 
yourselves  of  the  articles  affected  by  them,  and  proportionally 
increase  our  wealth  and  independence.  Manufactures  more 
than  any  other  employment  will  increase  our  numbers,  in  which 
consists  the  strength  and  glory  of  a  people."  "^  The  assembly 
then  chose  to  the  convention  three  men  who  were  all  closely 
united,  and  so  able  that  scarce  any  delegation  stood  before 
them. 

Maryland,  rent  by  a  faction  eager  for  the  issue  of  paper 
money,  did  not  elect  delegates  till  near  the  end  of  May. 
New  Hampshire,  from  the  poverty  of  her  treasury,  delayed 
its  choice  till  June.  Ehode  Island  alone,  under  the  sway  of  a 
perverse  party  spirit  which  was  fast  ebbing,  refused  to  be  rep- 
resented in  the  convention. 

*  Carey's  Museum,  ii.,  396. 


202  OX  THE  WAY  TO  A  FEDERAL  CONYENTIOK  b.ii.;  oh.viii. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  watched  the  result  of  the 
convention  with  trembhng  hope.  "  Shall  we  have  a  king  ? " 
asked  Jay,  and  himself  answered  :  "  Not,  in  my  opinion,  while 
other  expedients  remain  untried."  '^  It  was  foreseen  that  a  fail- 
ure would  be  followed  by  the  establishment  of  three  separate 
confederacies. t  The  ministry  of  England  harbored  the  thought 
of  a  constitutional  monarchy,  with  a  son  of  George  III.  as 
king ;  and  they  were  not  without  alarai  lest  gratitude  to  France 
should  place  on  an  American  throne  a  prince  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon.  J 

The  task  of  preparing  the  outhnes  of  a  constitution  as  the 
basis  for  the  deliberations  of  the  convention  was  undertaken 
by  Madison.  His  experience  and  his  studies  fitted  him  for 
the  office.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
formed  the  first  constitution  for  Yirginia ;  of  its  first  legisla- 
ture as  a  state ;  of  its  executive  council  when  Patrick  Henry 
and  Jefferson  were  governors;  for  three  years  a  delegate  in 
congress ;  then  a  member  of  the  Yirginia  legislature ;  a  com- 
missioner at  Annapolis ;  and,  so  soon  as  the  rule  of  rotation 
permitted,  once  more  a  member  of  congress.  From  the  dec- 
laration of  independence  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  republican  and  of  federal  government.  On  the  failure  at 
Annapolis,  Jefferson  cheered  him  on  to  a  broader  reformation : 
to  make  the  states  one  nation  as  to  foreign  concerns,  and  keep 
them  distinct  in  domestic  ones ;  to  organize  "  the  federal  head 
into  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary ; "  to  control  the  in- 
terference of  states  in  general  affairs  by  an  appeal  to  a  federal 
court.  With  Edmund  Randolph,  Madison  insisted  that  from 
him,  as  governor  of  Yii'ginia,  the  convention  would  expect 
some  leading  proposition,  and  dwelt  on  the  necessity  of  his 
bending  his  thoughts  seriously  to  the  great  work. of  prepara- 
tion ;  but  Randolph  declined,  pleading  his  want  of  the  neces- 
sary leisure.  Madison  proceeded  without  dismay.  He  held 
as  a  fixed  principle  that  the  new  system  should  be  ratified  by 
the  people  of  the  several  states,  so  that  it  might  be  clearly 
paramount  to  their  individual  legislative  authority.  He  would 
make  no  material  sacrifices  to  local  or  transient  prejudices.    To 

*  Sparks,  ix.,  511. 
f  Madison,  i.,  280.  X  Temple,  iufra  ;  Adams,  viii.,  420. 


1787.      YIRGINIA'S  INVITATION  TO  A  CONVENTION.       203 

him  tlie  independence  of  eacli  separate  state  was  iitterlj  irre- 
concilable with  the  idea  of  an  aggregate  sovereignty,  while  a 
consolidation  of  the  states  into  one  simple  republic  was  neither 
expedient  nor  attainable.*  In  the  endeavor  to  reconcile  the 
due  supremacy  of  the  nation  with  the  preservation  of  the  local 
authorities  in  their  subordinate  usefulness,  he  did  not  escape 
mistakes ;  but  he  saw  clearly  that  a  widely  extended  territory 
was  the  true  domain  for  a  republic,  and  in  advance  of  the  fed- 
eral convention  he  sketched  for  his  own  use  f  and  that  of  his 
friends,  :|:  and  ultimately  of  the  convention,  a  thoroughly  com- 
prehensive constitutional  government  for  the  union. 

"Washington  at  Mount  Yernon  was  equally  studious.  He 
made  himself  familiar  with  the  reasonings  of  Montesquieu ; 
and  he  obtained  the  opinions,  not  of  Madison  only,  but  of 
Knox  and  of  Jay.  From  their  letters  and  his  own  experience 
he  drew  three  separate  outlines  of  a  new  constitution,  differing 
in  manifold  ways,  and  yet  each  of  the  three  designed  to  restore 
and  consolidate  the  union.* 

*  Madison,  i.,  287.  f  Notes  on  the  confederacy,  Madison,  i.,  320-828. 

X  Madison  to  Jefferson,  19  March  1787,  Madison,  i.,  284;  to  Randolph,  Gilpin, 
631  ;  Elliot,  107  ;  to  Washington,  Sparks,  ix.,  616. 

*  North  American  Review,  xxv.,  263. 


THE 

FORMATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

OF  THE 

UI^ITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 

IN-  FIVE  BOOKS, 
BOOK  THIRD. 

THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION". 
May-Septembes  1787. 


CHAPTER  I. 

the  constitution  in  outline. 

14  May  to  13  June  1787. 

Do  nations  float  darkling  down  the  stream  of  the  ages  with- 
out hope  or  consolation,  swaying  with  every  wind  and  igno- 
rant whither  they  are  drifting  ?  or,  is  there  a  superior  power 
of  intelligence  and  love,  which  is  moved  by  justice  and  shapes 
their  course  ? 

From  the  ocean  to  the  American  outposts  nearest  the  Mis- 
sissippi, one  desire  prevailed  for  a  closer  connection,  one  belief 
that  the  only  opportunity  for  its  creation  was  come.  Men  who, 
from  their  greater  attachment  to  the  states,  feared  its  hazards, 
neither  coveted  nor  accepted  an  election  to  the  convention,  and 
in  uneasy  watchfulness  awaited  the  course  of  events.  Willie 
Jones  of  North  Carolina,  declining  to  serve,  was  replaced  by 
Hugh  Williamson,  who  had  voted  with  Jefferson  for  excluding 
slavery  from  the  territories.  Patrick  Henry,  Thomas  Nelson, 
and  Pichard  Henry  Lee  refusing  to  be  delegates,  Edmund 
Randolph,  then  governor  of  Virginia  and  himself  a  delegate 
to  the  convention,  named  to  one  vacancy  James  McClurg,  a 
professor  in  the  college  of  William  and  Mary  whom  Madison 
had  urged  upon  congress  for  the  office  of  secretary  of  foreign 
affairs.  'No  state  except  New  York  sent  a  delegation  insensible 
to  the  necessity  of  a  vigorous  union.  Discordant  passions  were 
repressed  by  the  solemnity  of  the  moment ;  and,  as  the  states- 
men who  were  to  create  a  new  constitution,  veterans  in  the 
war  and  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  journeyed  for  the  most  part 
on  horseback  to  their  place  of  meeting,  the  high-wrought  hopes 
of  the  nation  went  along  with  them.    Nor  did  they  deserve 


208  THE  FEDERAL  CONYENTION.  b.iii.;ch.i. 

(  the  interest  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  alone ;  they 
/felt  the  ennobling  love  for  their  fellow-men,  and  knew  them- 
[  selves  to  be  forerunners  of  reform  for  the  civilized  world. 

George  "Washington  was  met  at  Chester  bj  public  honors. 
From  the  Schuylkill  the  city  light  horse  escorted  him  into 
Philadelphia,  the  bells  chiming  all  the  while.  His  first  act 
was  to  wait  upon  Franklin,  the  president  of  Pennsylvania. 
C  On  the  fourteenth  of  May,  at  the  hour  appointed  for  open- 
ly ing  the  federal  convention,  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  the 
only  states  which  were  sufficiently  represented,  repaired  to  the 
State-house,  and,  with  others  as  they  gathered  in,  continued  to 
do  so,  adjourning  from  day  to  day.  Of  deputies,  the  creden- 
tials of  Connecticut  and  Maryland  required  but  one  to  repre- 
sent the  state ;  of  'New  York,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia, 
two ;  of  Massachusetts,  ITew  Jersey,  Delaware,  Virginia,  and 
North  Carolina,  three  ;  of  Pennsylvania,  four.  The  delay  was 
turned  to  the  best  account  by  James  Madison  of  Virginia. 
From  the  completion  of  the  Virginia  delegation  by  the  arrival 
of  George  Mason,  who  came  with  unselfish  zeal  to  do  his  part 
in  fulfilling  "  the  expectations  and  hopes  of  all  the  union," 
they  not  only  attended  the  general  session,  but  "conferred 
together  by  themselves  two  or  three  hours  every  day  in  order 
to  form  a  proper  correspondence  of  sentiments."  "^  As  their 
state  had  initiated  the  convention,  they  held  it  their  duty  at 
its  opening  to  propose  a  finished  plan  for  consideration. 
^  The  choice  lay  between  an  amended  confederacy  and  "  the 
new  constitution  "  f  for  which  "Washington  four  years  before 
had  pleaded  with  the  people  of  every  state.  "  My  wish  is," 
so  he  had  written  to  Madison,  "  that  the  convention  may  adopt 
no  temporizing  expedients,  but  probe  the  defects  of  the  con- 
stitution to  the  bottom  and  provide  a  radical  cure,  whether 
agreed  to  or  not.  A  conduct  of  this  kind  will  stamp  wisdom 
and  dignity  on  their  proceedings,  and  hold  up  a  light  which 
sooner  or  later  will  have  its  influence."  $ 

"We  know  from  Eandolph  himseK  that  before  departing 
for  the  convention  he  was  disposed  to  do  no  more  than  amend 

*  George  Mason  to  his  son,  Philadelphia,  20  May  1787. 

f  Washington  to  Lafayette,  5  April  1783.     Sparks,  viii,,  412. 

i  Sparks,  ix.,  250,  31  March  1787. 


) 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  209 

the  confederation ;  and  Ms  decision  was  likely  to  have  great 
weight  in  the  councils  of  his  own  commonwealth.  When  his 
royalist  father,  attorney-general  of  Virginia,  took  refuge  with 
the  English,  the  son  cleaved  to  his  native  land.  At  his  own 
request  and  the  sohcitation  of  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  Washington 
received  him  as  an  aid  during  the  siege  of  Boston.  In  1776 
he  took  a  part  in  the  convention  for  forming  the  constitution 
of  Yirginia ;  and  the  convention  rewarded  his  patriotism  by 
electing  him  at  twenty-three  years  of  age  attorney-general  of 
Yirginia  in  the  place  of  his  father.  In  1779  he  preceded 
Madison  by  a  year  as  a  delegate  to  congress.  In  the  effort 
for  the  reform  of  the  confederation,  he,  with  Ellsworth  of 
Connecticut  and  Yarnum  of  Ehode  Island  for  his  associates, 
was  the  chairman  of  the  committee  appointed  to  report  on  the 
defects  of  the  confederacy  and  the  new  powers  necessary  for 
its  efficiency.  In  1786  he  was  elected  governor  of  Yirginia ; 
and  now  in  his  thirty-fourth  year  he  was  sent  to  the  conven- 
tion, bringing  with  him  a  reputation  for  ability  equal  to  his 
high  position,  and  in  the  race  for  public  honors  taking  the 
lead  of  James  Monroe.  But  with  all  his  merit  there  was  a 
strain  of  weakness  in  his  character,  so  that  he  was  like  a  soft 
metal  which  needs  to  be  held  in  place  by  coils  of  a  harder 
grain  than  its  own.  That  support  he  found  in  Madison,  who 
had  urged  him  to  act  a  foremost  part  in  the  convention,  and 
had  laid  before  him  the  principles  on  which  the  new  govern- 
ment should  be  organized ;  and  in  Washington,  who  was  un- 
ceasing in  his  monitions  and  encouragement.  Randolph,  on 
his  arrival  in  Philadelphia,  at  once  yielded  to  their  influence, 
and  with  them  became  persuaded  that  the  confederacy  was 
destitute  of  every  energy  which  a  constitution  of  the  United 
States  ought  to  possess.^  ^,^ 

The  result  was  harmony  among  the  Yirginia  delegates.-,"^ 
A  plan  for  a  national  government,  which  imbodied  the/ 
thoughts  of  Madison,  altered  and  amended  by  their  joint  con-l 
sultations,  was  agreed  to  by  them  all.  To  Randolph,  as  the ' 
ofHcial  representative  of  the  state,  was  unanimously  assigned  1 
the  office  of  bringing  forward  the  outline  which  was  to  be; 
known  as  the  plan  of  Yirginia.     This  forethought  provided  in  ^ 

*  Randolph  to  Speaker,  10  October  1787. 

VOL.  VI. — 14 


^ 


210  THE  FEDERAL  COIH^ENTION'.  B.iii.;on.i. 

season  a  cliart  for  the  voyage,  so  that  the  ship,  skilfully  bal- 
lasted and  trimmed  from  the  beginning,  could  be  steered 
through  perilous  channels  to  the  wished-for  haven. 

A  government  founded  directly  on  the  people  seemed  to 
justify  and  require  a  distribution  of  suffrage  in  the  national 
legislature  according  to  some  equitable  ratio.  Gouverneur 
Morris  and  other  members  from  Pennsylvania  in  conversation 
urged  the  large  states  to  unite  from  the  first  in  refusing  to  the 
smaller  states  in  the  federal  convention  the  equal  vote  which 
they  enjoyed  in  the  congress  of  the  confederacy ;  but  the  Vir- 
ginians, while  as  the  largest  state  in  extent  and  in  numbers 
they  claimed  a  proportioned  legislative  suffrage  as  an  essential 
right  which  must  be  asserted  and  allowed,  stifled  the  project, 
being  of  the  opinion  that  the  small  states  would  be  more  will- 
ing to  renounce  this  unequal  privilege  in  return  for  an  efficient 
government,  than  to  disarm  themselves  before  the  battle  with- 
out an  equivalent.* 

On  the  seventeenth.  South  Carolina  appeared  on  the  floor ; 
on  the  eighteenth,  JSTew  York  ;  on  the  twenty  first,  Delaware ; 
on  the  twenty-second,  ITorth  Carolina.  Of  the  delegates,  some 
were  for  half-way  measui-es  from  fear  of  displeasing  the  people  ; 
others  were  anxious  and  doubting.  Just  before  there  were 
enough  to  form  a  quorum,  Washington,  standing  self-collected 
in  the  midst  of  them,  his  countenance  more  than  usually  solemn, 
his  eye  seeming  to  look  into  futurity,  said  :  ''  It  is  too  probable 
that  no  plan  we  propose  will  be  adopted.  Perhaps  another 
dreadful  conflict  is  to  be  sustained.  If,  to  please  the  people, 
we  offer  what  we  ourselves  disapprove,  how  can  we  afterward 
defend  our  work  ?  Let  us  raise  a  standard  to  which  the  wise 
and  the  honest  can  repair ;  the  event  is  in  the  hand  of  God."  f 

On  the  twenty-fifth,  New  Jersey,  completing  the  seven  states 
needed  to  form  a  house,  was  represented  by  William  Churchill 
Houston,  who  had  been  detained  by  illness,  and  was  too  weak 
to  remain  long.  There  were  from  the  South  four  states,  from 
the  ISTorth,  three ;   from  the  South,  nineteen  members,  from 

*  Madison  Papers,  edited  by  Gilpin,  726.     Stereotyped  reprint  of  Elliot,  125. 

f  Oration  by  Gouverneur  Morris  upon  the  death  of  Vi''a5lnngton,  31  December 
1799,  pp.  20,  21.  Morris  was,  in  May  1787,  present  in  Philadelpbia,  and  relates 
what  he  witnessed. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTIOISr  IN   OUTLINE.  211 

the  !N"ortli,  ten.  At  the  desire  of  Benjamin  Franklin  of  Penn- 
sylvania, "Washington  was  unanimously  elected  president  of  the 
convention.  During  the  organization  it  was  noticed  that  the 
delegates  from  Delaware  were  prohibited  from  changing  the 
article  in  the  confederation  establishing  the  equality  of  votes 
among  the  states.* 

On  the  twenty-eighth,  the  representation  was  increased  to 
nine  states  by  the  arrival  of  Massachusetts  and  Maryland.  A 
letter  was  read  from  men  of  Providence,  Phode  Island,  among 
them  John  Brown,  Jabez  Bowen,  Welcome  Arnold,  and  Wil- 
liam Barton,  explaining  why  their  state  would  send  no  dele- 
gates to  the  convention,  and  hopefully  pledging  their  best  ex- 
ertions to  effect  the  ratification  of  its  proceedings. f  The  letter 
was  forwarded  and  supported  by  Yarnum,  a  member  from 
Phode  Island  in  congress. 

The  delegates  from  Maryland,  chosen  at  a  time  when  the 
best  men  of  the  state  were  absorbed  in  a  domestic  struggle 
against  new  issues  of  paper  money,  and  its  senate  by  its  stub- 
born resistance  was  estranged  from  the  house,  did  not  ade- 
quately represent  its  public  spirit ;  yet  the  majority  of  them  to 
the  last  promoted  the  national  union.  Of  idie„iifty:five  in  the 
convention,  nine  were  graduates  of  Princeton,  four  of  Yale, 
three  of  Plarvard,  two  of  Columbia,  one  of  Pennsylvania ;  five, 
six,  or  seven  had  been  connected  Vv^ith  AYilliam  and  Mary's ; 
Scotland  sent  one  of  her  sons,  a  jurist,  who  had  been  taught  at 
three  of  her  universities,  and  Glasgow  had  assisted  to  train 
another ;  one  had  been  a  student  in  Christ  Church,  Oxford, 
and  he  and  three  others  had  been  students  of  law  in  the  Tem- 
ple. To  many  in  the  assembly  the  work  of  the  great  French 
magistrate  on  the  ''  Spirit  of  Laws,"  of  which  Washington 
with  his  own  hand  had  copied  an  abstract  by  Madison,  was  the 
favorite  manual ;  some  of  them  had  made  an  analysis  of  all 
federal  governments  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  a  few 
were  well  versed  in  the  best  English,  Swiss,  and  Dutch  writers 
on  government.  They  had  immediately  before  them  the  ex- 
ample of  Great  Britain  ;  and  they  had  a  still  better  school  of 
political  wisdom  in  the  republican  constitutions  of  their  several 

*  Gilpin,  723;  Elliot,  124. 

f  Gilpin,  727 ;  Elliot,  125,  and  Appendix  No.  1. 


^ 


212  THE  FEDERAL   CONYENTIOK  b.  iii.  ;  ch.  i. 

states,  wliicli  many  of  tlieni  had  assisted  to  frame.  Altogether 
they  formed  "the  goodliest  fellowship  of"  lawgivers  "whereof 
this  world  holds  record."  In  their  standing  rules  they  unani- 
mously forbade  any  registry  to  be  made  of  the  votes  of  indi- 
viduals, so  that  they  might,  without  reproach  or  observation, 
mutually  receive  and  impart  instruction;  and  they  sat  with 
closed  doors,  lest  the  publication  of  their  debates  should  rouse 
the  country  to  obstinate  conflicts  before  they  themselves  should 
have  reached  their  conclusions. 

On  the  twenty-ninth,  Edmund  Eandolph,  the  governor  of 
Virginia,  opened  the  business  of  the  convention  in  this  wise : 
"  To  prevent  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies  of  the  downfall 
of  the  United  States,  it  is  our  duty  to  inquire  into  the  defects 
of  the  confederation  and  the  requisite  properties  of  the  govern- 
ment now  to  be  framed ;  the  danger  of  the  situation  and  its 
remedy. 

"  The  confederation  was  made  in  the  infancy  of  the  science 
of  constitutions,  when  the  inefficiency  of  requisitions  was  un- 
known ;  when  no  commercial  discord  had  arisen  among  states ; 
when  no  rebellion  like  that  in  Massachusetts  had  broken  out ; 
when  foreign  debts  were  not  urgent ;  when  the  havoc  of  paper 
money  had  not  been  foreseen ;  when  treaties  had  not  been  vio- 
lated ;  and  when  nothing  better  could  have  been  conceded  by 
states  jealous  of  their  sovereignty.  But  it  offered  no  security 
against  foreign  invasion,  for  congress  could  neither  prevent  nor 
conduct  a  war,  nor  punish  infractions  of  treaties  or  of  the  law 
of  nations,  nor  control  particular  states  from  provoking  war. 
The  federal  government  has  no  constitutional  power  to  check 
a  quarrel  between  separate  states ;  nor  to  suppress  a  rebellion 
in  any  one  of  them ;  nor  to  establish  a  productive  impost ;  nor 
to.  counteract  the  commercial  regulations  of  other  nations ;  nor 
to  defend  itseK  against  encroachments  of  the  states.  From  the 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  ratified  in  many  of  the  states,  it 
cannot  be  claimed  to  be  paramount  to  the  state  constitutions  ; 
so  that  there  is  a  prospect  of  anarchy  from  the  inherent  laxity 
of  the  government.  As  the  remedy,  the  government  to  be  es- 
tablished must  have  for  its  basis  the  republican  principle." 

He  then  proposed  fifteen  resolutions,  which  he  explained 
one  by  one. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  213 

"  The  articles  of  confederation  onglit  to  be  so  corrected  and 
enlarged  as  to  accomplisli  the  objects  proposed  bj  their  insti- 
tution ;  namely,  '  common  defence,  security  of  liberty,  and 
general  welfare.' 

'^  The  rights  of  suffrage  in  the  national  legislature  ought  to 
be  proportioned  to  the  quotas  of  contribution,  *or  to  the  num- 
ber of  free  inhabitants. 

"  The  national  legislature  ought  to  consist  of  two  branches, 
of  which  the  members  of  the  first  or  democratic  house  ought 
to  be  elected  by  the  people  of  the  several  states ;  of  the  sec- 
ond, by  those  of  the  first,  out  of  persons  nominated  by  the  indi- 
vidual legislatures. 

"  The  national  legislature,  of  which  each  branch  ought  to 
possess  the  right  of  originating  acts,  ought  to  enjoy  the  legis- 
lative rights  vested  in  congress  by  the  confederation,  and 
moreover  to  legislate  in  all  cases  to  which  the  separate  states  are 
Incompetent,  or  in  which  the  harmony  of  the  United  States 
might  be  interrupted  by  the  exercise  of  individual  legislation ; 
to  negative  all  laws  passed  by  the  several  states  contravening 
the  articles  of  union ;  and  to  call  forth  the  force  of  the  union 
against  any  member  of  the  union  failing  to  fulfil  its  duty  under 
the  articles  thereof. 

"  A  national  executive,  chosen  by  the  national  legislature 
and  ineligible  a  second  time,  ought  to  enjoy  the  executive 
rights  vested  in  congress  by  the  confederation,  and  a  general 
authority  to  execute  the  national  laws. 

"  The  executive  and  a  convenient  number  of  the  national 
judiciary  ought  to  compose  a  council  of  revision,  with  author- 
ity to  examine  every  act  of  the  national  legislature  before  it 
shall  operate. 

"  A  national  judiciary  ought  to  be  established ;  to  consist 
of  supreme  and  inferior  tribunals ;  to  be  chosen  by  the  national 
legislature  ;  to  hold  their  offices  during  good  behavior,  wdth 
jurisdiction  to  hear  and  determine  all  piracies  and  felonies  on 
the  high  seas ;  captures  from  an  enemy ;  cases  in  which  foreign- 
ers and  citizens,  a  citizen  of  one  state  and  a  citizen  of  another 
state,  may  be  interested ;  cases  which  respect  the  collection  of 
the  national  revenue ;  impeachments  of  national  officers ;  and 
questions  which  may  involve  the  national  peace  and  harmony. 


214  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTIOK  b.  m. ;  oh.  i. 

"  Provision  ought  to  be  made  for  tlie  admission  of  states 
lawfully  arising  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States. 

"  A  republican  government  and  the  territory  of  each  state 
ought  to  be  guaranteed  by  the  United  States  to  each  state. 

"  Provision  ought  to  be  made  for  the  completion  of  all  the 
engagements  of  congress,  and  for  its  continuance  until  after  the 
articles  of  union  shall  have  been  adopted. 

"  Provision  ought  to  be  made  for  the  amendment  of  the 
articles  of  union ;  to  which  the  assent  of  the  national  legislature 
ought  not  to  be  required. 

"  The  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary  powers,  within 
the  several  states,  ought  to  be  bound  by  oath  to  support  the 
articles  of  union. 

"  The  amendments  which  shall  be  offered  to  the  confedera- 
tion by  the  convention  ought,  after  the  approbation  of  congress, 
to  be  submitted  to  assemblies  of  representatives,  recommended 
by  the  several  legislatures  to  be  expressly  chosen  by  the  people 
to  consider  and  decide  thereon." 

Pandolph  concluded  with  an  exhortation  to  the  convention 
not  to  suffer  the  present  opportunity  of  establishing  general 
harmony,  happiness,  and  liberty  in  the  United  States  to  pass 
away  unimproved."^ 

The  new  articles  of  union  would  form  a  representative  re- 
public. The  nobleness  of  the  Virginia  delegation  appeared  in 
the  offer  of  an  option  to  found  representation  on  "  free  inhab- 
itants "  alone.  The  proposed  government  would  be  truly  na- 
tional. Not  the  executive,  not  the  judges,  not  one  officer  em- 
ployed by  the  national  government,  not  members  of  the  first 
branch  of  the  legislature,  would  owe  their  election  to  the  states ; 
even  in  the  choice  of  the  second  branch  of  the  national  legisla- 
ture, the  states  were  only  to  nominate  candidates. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  as  Eandolph  declared  the  propor- 
tioned rule  of  suffrage  to  be  "  the  basis  upon  which  the  larger 
states  could  assent  to  any  reform,"  saying,  "  We  ought  to  be 
one  nation,"  "William  Paterson  of  New  Jersey  made  note  that 
"  sovereignty  is  an  integral  thing,"  meaning  that  in  the  new 
union  the  states  must  be  equal  unless  they  all  were  to  be 
merged  into  one.f     The  house  referred  the  propositions  of 

*  Gilpin,  YSl-TSS  ;  Elliot,  126-128.  j  Paterson  MSS. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  215 

Yirginia  to  a  committee  of  the  whole  on  the  state  of  the  union.* 
Charles  Pinclmey  of  South  CaroHna,  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
nine,  then  presented  a  plan  for  a  constitution,  "  grounded  on 
the  same  principles  f  as  the  resolutions  "  of  Yirginia.  It  re- 
ceived the  same  reference,  but  no  part  of  it  was  used,  and  no 
copy  of  it  has  been  preserved. 

On  the  morning  of  the  thirtieth,  ISTathaniel  Gorham  of 
Massachusetts  having  been  elected  chairman  of  the  committee 
of  the  whole,  Eandolph  offered  a  resolution,  J  which  Gouver- 
neur  Morris  had  formulated,  "that  a  national  government 
ought  to  be  established,  consisting  of  a  supreme  legislative,  ex- 
ecutive, and  judiciary."  The  force  of  the  word  "  supreme " 
was  explained  to  be,  that,  should  the  powers  to  be  granted  to 
the  new  government  clash  with  the  powers  of  the  states,  the 
states  were  to  yield.* 

Pierce  Butler  of  South  Carolina  advanced  the  business  of 
the  day  by  saying  in  the  spirit  of  Montesquieu :  "  Heretofore  I 
have  opposed  the  grant  of  new  powers  to  congress  because  they 
would  all  be  vested  in  one  body ;  the  distribution  of  the  powers 
among  different  bodies  will  induce  me  to  go  great  lengths  in 
its  support."  1 

"  In  all  communities,"  said  Gouvemeur  Morris,  "  there 
must  be  one  supreme  power  and  one  only.  A  confederacy  is 
a  mere  compact,  resting  on  the  good  faith  of  the  parties ;  '^a 
national,  supreme  government  must  have  a  complete  and  com- 
pulsive operation."  Mason  argued  "  very  cogently  "  :  "  In  the 
nature  of  things  punishment  cannot  be  executed  on  the  states 
collectively ;  therefore  such  a  government  is  necessary  as  can 
operate  directly  on  individuals."  ^ 

Hoger  Sherman,  who  arrived  that  morning  and  enabled  Con- 
necticut to  vote,  was  not  yet  ready  to  do  more  than  vest  in  the 
general  government  a  power  to  raise  its  o^vn  revenue ;  ()  and 
against  the  negative  of  his  state  alone,  E'ew  York  being  divided, 
the  motion  was  carried  by  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Yir- 
ginia, and  the  two  Carolinas,  on  this  day  aided  by  Delaware. 

*  Gilpin,  735;  Elliot,  128.  f  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  391. 

X  Gilpin,  747 ;  Elliot,  132.  #  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  392. 

II  Gilpin,  747,  748  ;  Elliot,  133. 
^  Gilpin,  748  ;  Elliot,  133.  0  Gilpin,  748  ;  Elliot,  133. 


216  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  iii.  ;  oh.  i. 

Alexander  Hamilton  of  'New  York  next  moved  that  "  tlie 
rights  of  suffrage  in  the  national  legislature  ought  to  be  pro- 
portioned to  the  number  of  free  inhabitants ; "  and  Richard 
Dobbs  Spaight  of  E'orth  Carolina  seconded  him.  But,  to 
escape  irritating  debates,  the  resolution  was  postponed,  and 
Madison,  supported  by  Gouverneur  Morris,  moved,  in  more 
general  terms,  "  that  the  equality  of  suffrage  established  by 
the  articles  of  confederation  ought  not  to  prevail  in  the  na- 
tional legislature ;  and  that  an  equitable  ratio  of  representation 
ought  to  be  substituted."  * 

Faithful  to  his  instructions,  George  Eead  of  Delaware 
asked  that  the  consideration  of  the  clause  might  be  postponed ; 
as  on  any  change  of  the  rule  of  suffrage  it  might  become  the 
duty  of  the  deputies  from  his  state  to  withdraw  from  the  con- 
vention. "  Equality  of  suffrage,"  said  Madison,  "  may  be  rea- 
sonable in  a  federal  union  of  sovereign  states ;  it  can  find  no 
place  in  a  national  government."  But,  from  the  spirit  of  con- 
ciKation,  the  request  for  delay  was  granted.f 

The  next  day  Georgia  gained  the  right  to  vote  by  the  ar- 
rival of  "William  Pierce,  a  Virginian  by  birth,  in  the  war  an  aid 
/-to  Greene,  and  now  a  member  of  congress.     The  Yirginia  re- 
^  solve,  that  the  national  legislature  should  be  composed  of  two 
/  branches,  passed  without  debate,  and,  but  for  Pennsylvania, 
unanimously ;  Hamilton  and  Robert  Yates  of  JSTew  York  vot- 
ing together."  J     Three  weeks  later,  Pennsylvania,  which  had 
hesitated  only  out  of  forbearance  toward  its  own  constitution, 
gave  in  its  adhesion.    The  decision,  which  was  in  harmony  with 
,the  undisputed  and  unchanging  conviction  of  the  whole  people 
/of  the  United  States,  was  adopted,  partly  to  check  haste  in 
J  legislation  by  reciprocal  watchfulness,  and  partly  to  prevent 
/  the  fatal  conflict  which  might  one  day  take  place  between  a 

single  legislative  body  and  a  single  executive. 

/^      On  the  method  of  electing  the  two  branches,  the  upholders 

\  of  the  sovereignty  of  each  state  contended  that  the  national 

/government  ought  to  seek  its  agents  through  the  governments 

I  of  the  respective  states ;  others  preferred  that  the  members  of 

Hhe  first  branch  should  be  chosen  directly  by  the  people. 

*  Gilpin,  750,  751  ;  Elliot,  134. 
f  Gilpin,  751,  752  ;  Elliot,  134,  135.  X  Gilpin,  753  ;  Elliot,  135. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  217 

"  The  people,"  said  Sherman,  "  should  have  as  little  to  do 
as  maj  be  about  the  government ;  they  want  information  and 
are  constantly  liable  to  be  misled  ;  the  election  onght  to  be  by 
the  state  legislatures."     "  The  people  do  not  want  virtue  ;  but 
they  are  the   dupes  of  pretended  patriots,"  added  Elbridge 
Gerry  of  Massachusetts.     To  this  arraignment  of  the  people 
by  men  of  New  England,  Mason  of  Virginia  rephed  :  "  The 
larger  branch  is  to  be  the  grand  depository  of  the  democratic 
principle  of  the  government.     We   ought  to   attend  to  the 
rights  of  every  class  of  the  people.     I  have  often  wondered  at 
the  indiiference  of  the  superior  classes  of  society  to  this  dictate 
of  humanity  and  policy."      "  Without  the  confidence  of  the  j 
people,"  said  James  Wilson  of  Pennsylvania,  ''  no  government,  l 
least  of  all  a  republican  government,  can  long  subsist;  nor  [ 
ouglit  the  weight  of  the  state  legislatures  to  be  increased  by  I 
making  them  the  electors  of  the  national  legislature."     Madi-  ) 
son,  though  for  the  senate,  the  executive,  and  the  judiciary 
he  approved  of  refining  popular  appointments  by  successive    , 
"  filtrations,"  held  the  popular  election  of  one  branch  of  the 
national  legislature  indispensable  to  every  plan  of  free  gov- 
ernment.    This  opinion  prevailed."^ 

It  was  agreed,  unanimously  and  without  debate,  that  the '] 
national  legislature  should  possess  the  legislative  powers  of  the    • 
confederacy ;  but,  to  the  extension  of  them  to  all  cases  to  which 
the  state  legislatures  were  individually  incompetent,  Charles  • ' 
Pinckney,  John  Putledge,  and  Butler,  all  the  three  of  South 
Carolina,  objected  that  the  vagueness  of  the  language  might 
imperil  the  powers  of  the  states.     But  Pandolj)h  disclaimed 
the  intention  of  giving  indefinite  powers  to  the  national  legis- 
lature, and  declared  himself  unalterably  opposed  to  such  an 
inroad  on  the  state  jurisdictions.     Madison  was  strongly  biasedX 
in  favor  of  enumerating  and  defining  the  powers  to  be  granted,    1 
although  he  could  not  suppress  doubts  of  its  practicability.  ( 
"  But,"  said  he,  "  a  form  of  government  that  will  provide  for  " 
the  liberty  and  happiness  of  the  community  being  the  end  of 
our  deliberations,  all  the  necessary  means  for  attaining  it  must^ 
however  reluctantly,  be  submitted  to."  f     The   clause  was 

*  Gilpin,  753,  75i,  755,  75G  ;  Elliot,  135,  13G,  137. 
f  Gilpin,  760 ;  Elliot,  139. 


218  THE  FEDERAL  CO:&TyENTIOK  b.iii.;oh.i. 

adopted  by  nine  states,  including  'New  York  and  l^ew  Jersey. 
Oliver  Ellsworth  of  Connecticut,  voting  against  Sherman,  di- 
vided that  state. 

/^  The  clauses  in  the  Virginia  plan,  giving  to  the  national  legis- 
[  lature  the  powers  necessary  to  preserve  harmony  among  the 
\  states,  to  negative  all  state  laws  contravening,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  national  legislature,  the  articles  of  union,  or,  as  Benja- 
min Franklin  of  Pennsylvania  added,  "  contravening  treaties 
I  subsisting  under  the  authorit}^  of  the  union,"  v^^ere  agreed  to 
L  without  debate  or  dissent. 

Madison  struggled  to  confer  on  the  national  legislature  the 

right  to  negative  at  its  discretion  any  state  law  whatever,  being 

of  the  opinion  that  a  negative  of  which  the  rightfulness  was 

unquestioned  would  strip  a  local  law  of  every  pretence  to  the 

character  of  legality,  and  thus  suppress  resistance  at  its  incep- 

/  tion.     On  another  day,  explaining  his  motives,  he  said :  "  A 

f   negative  on  state  laws  is  the  mildest  expedient  that  can  be  de- 

\  vised  for  enforcing  a  national  decree.     Should  no  such  precau- 

\  tion  be  engrafted,  the  only  remedy  would  be  coercion.     The 

Jj-'    ynegative  would  render  the  use  of  force  unnecessary.     In  a 

>  )  word,  this  prerogative  of  the  general  government  is  the  great 

pervading  principle  that  must  control  the  centrifugal  tendency 

/  of  the  states,  which,  without  it,  will  continually  fly  out  of  their 

/  proper  orbits,  and  destroy  the  order  and  harmony  of  the  po- 

I  litical  system."  *     But   the  convention   refused  to  adopt  his 

^  counsel. 

Lastly :  the  Virginia  plan  authorized  the  exertion  of  the 
force  of  the  whole  against  a  delinquent  state.  Madison,  ac- 
cepting the  argument  of  Mason,  expressed  a  doubt  of  the  prac- 
ticability, the  justice,  and  the  equity  of  applying  force  to  a 
collective  people.  "  To  use  force  against  a  state,"  he  said,  "  is 
more  like  a  declaration  of  war  than  an  infliction  of  punishment, 
and  would  be  considered  by  the  party  attacked  a  dissolution 
of  all  previous  contracts.  I  therefore  hope  that  a  national  sys- 
tem, with  full  power  to  deal  directly  with  individuals,  will" be 
framed,  and  the  resource  be  thus  rendered  unnecessary."  The 
clause  was  postponed.! 

In  this  wise  and  in  one  day  the  powers  of  the  legislature 

*  June  8,  Gilpin,  822,  823  ;  Elliot,  171.  f  Gilpin,  761 ;  Elliot,  140. 


/ 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION-  IN   OUTLINE.  219 

which  was  to  be  the  centre  of  the  government  were  introduced, 
and,  except  the  last,  were  with  common  consent  established  in 
their  ontlines.  On  points  essential  to  union,  Yates  and  Ham- 
ilton, I^ew  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  voted  together.  On  the 
first  day  of  June  the  convention  took  into  consideration  the 
national  executive.  The  same  spirit  of  conciliation  prevailed, 
but  with  a  chaos  of  ideas  and  a  shyness  in  the  members  to  de- 
clare their  minds. 

Should  the  national  executive  be  one  or  many  ? — a  question 
which,  from  a  difference  among  themselves,  the  plan  of  the  i 
Virginia  delegates  had  left  undecided.     Should  it  be  chosen  L^^ 
directly  by  the  people  ?  or  by  electors  ?  or  by  the  state  legisla-f      J** 


(A 


tures  ?  or  by  the  executives  of  the  states  ?  or  by  one  branch  of! 
the  national  legislature  ?    or  by  both  branches  ?     And,  if  by* 
both,  by  joint  or  concurrent  ballot  ?   or  by  lot  ?     How  longi 
should  be  its  term  of  service  ?     And  how  far  should  its  re-  ^ 
eligibility  be  limited  ?     Should  it  have  the  sole  power  of  peace 
and  war  ?     Should  it  have  an  absolute  or  a  qualified  veto  ort 
acts  of  legislation,  or  none  at  all  ?     Should  its  powers  be  exer-\ 
cised  with  or  without  a  council  ?     Should  it  be  hable  to  remov-  \ 
al  by  the  legislatures  of  the  states,  or  by  the  national  legisla-  \ 
ture  ?  or  by  the  joint  action  of  both  ?  or  by  impeachment  alone  ?  ^ 

Here  the  convention  marched  and  countermarched  for  want 
of  guides.  Progress  began  to  be  made  on  the  ascertainment 
that  the  members  inclined  to  withhold  from  the  executive  the 
power  over  war  and  peace.  This  being  understood,  "Wilson 
and  Charles  Pinckney  proposed  that  the  national  executive 
should  consist  of  a  single  person.  A  long  silence  prevailed, 
broken  at  last  by  the  chairman  asking  if  he  should  put  the  ]/ 
question.  Franklin  entreated  the  members  first  to  deliver  ^ 
their  sentiments  on  a  point  of  so  great  importance.  Putledge 
joined  in  the  request,  and  for  himself  supported  Pinckney  and 
"Wilson.*  On  the  other  hand,  Sherman,  controlled  by  the  pre- 
cedents of  the  confederacy  which  appointed  and  displaced 
executive  officers  just  as  it  seemed  to  them  fit,  replied :  "  The 
legislature  are  the  best  judges  of  the  business  to  be  done  by  ~ 
the  executive,  and  should  be  at  liberty  from  time  to  time  to 
appoint  one  or  more,  as  experience  may  dictate."  f 

*  Gilpin,  762  ;  Elliot,  140.  f  Gilpin,  763  ;  Elliot,  140. 


220  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  iii.  ;  ch.  i. 

"  I  do  not  mean  to  throw  censure  on  that  excellent  fabric, 
the  British  government,"  said  Kandolph ;  "  if  we  were  in  a 
situation  to  copy  it,  I  do  not  know  tliati  should  be  opposed  to 
At     But  the  fixed  genius  of  the  people  of  America  requires  a 
Ndifferent  form  of  government.     The  requisites  for  the  execu- 
itive  department — vigor,  dispatch,  and  responsibility — can  be 
(  found  in  three  men  as  well  as  in  one.     Unity  in  the  jsxecutive 
is  the  fo3tus  .of  .jnonarchy."  '^     "  Unity  in  the  executive,"  re- 
torted Wilson,  "  will  rather  be  the  best  safeguard  against  tyran- 
ny.     From  the  extent  of  this  country,  nothing  but  a  great 
confederated  republic  will  do  for  it."     To  calm  the  excitement, 
Madison  led  the  convention,  before  choosing  between  unity  or 
plurality  in  the  executive,  to  ^x  the  extent  of  its  authority ;  and 
the  convention  agreed  to  clothe  it  "  with  power  to  carry  into 
effect  the  national  laws  and  to  appoint  to  offices  in  cases  not 
otherwise  provided  for."  f 

On  the  mode  of  appointing  the  executive,  Wilson  said ; 
"  Chimerical  as  it  may  appear  in  theory,  I  am  for  an  election 
by  the  people.  Experience  in  ]^ew  York  and  Massachusetts 
shows  that  an  election  of  the  first  magistrate  by  the  people  at 
large  is  both  a  convenient  and  a  successful  mode.  The  objects 
of  choice  in  such  cases  must  be  persons  whose  merits  have  gen- 
eral notoriety."  "  I,"  replied  Sherman,  "  am  for  its  appoint- 
ment by  the  national  legislature,  and  for  making  it  absolutely 
dependent  on  that  body  whose  will  it  is  to  execute.  An  inde- 
pendence of  the  executive  on  the  supreme  legislature  is  the 
very  essence  of  tyranny."  Sherman  and  Wilson  were  for  a 
period  of  office  of  three  years  and  "  against  the  doctrine  of  rota- 
tion, as  throwing  out  of  office  the  men  best  qualified  to  execute 
its  duties."  Mason  asked  for  seven  years  at  least,  but  without 
re-eligibility.  "  What,"  inquired  Gunning  Bedford  of  Dela- 
ware, "will  be  the  situation  of  the  country  should  the  first 
magistrate  elected  for  seven  years  be  discovered  immediately 
on  trial  to  be  incompetent  ? "  He  argued  for  a  triennial  elec- 
tion, with  an  ineligibility  after  three  successive  elections.  The 
convention,  by  a  vote  of  five  and  a  half  states  against  four  and 
a  half,  decided  for  the  period  of  seven  years  ;  :j:  and  by  at  least 

'^  Gilpin,  '763,  764;  Elliot,  141.  f  Gilpin,  765 ;  Elliot,  141. 

X  Gilpin,  767  ;  Elliot,  143. 


178r.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  221 

seven  states  against  Connecticut,  tliat  tlie  executive  sliould  not 
be  twice  eligible.* 

How  to  choose  the  executive  remained  the  perplexing  prob- 
lem. "Wilson,  borrowing  an  idea  from  the  constitution  of 
Maryland,  proposed  that  electors  chosen  in  districts  of  the  sev- 
eral states  should  meet  and  elect  the  executive  by  ballot,  but 
not  from  their  own  body.f  He  deprecated  the  intervention  of 
the  states  in  its  choice.  J  Mason  favored  the  idea  of  choosing 
the  executive  by  the  people ;  Hutledge,  by  the  national  senate.* 
Gerry  set  in  a  clear  light  that  the  election  by  the  national  legis- 
lature would  keep  up  a  constant  intrigue  between  that  legisla- 
ture and  the  candidates ;  nevertheless,  Wilson's  motion  was  at 
that  time  supported  only  by  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland ;  and 
from  sheer  uncertainty  what  else  to  do,  the  convention  left  the 
choice  of  the  executive  to  the  national  legislature.  || 

For  relief  from  a  bad  selection  of  the  executive,  John  Dick- 
inson of  Delaware,  who  did  not  like  the  plan  of  impeaching 
the  great  officers  of  state,  proposed  a  removal  on  the  request  of 
a  majority  of  the  legislatures  of  the  individual  states."^  Sher- 
man would  give  that  power  to  the  national  legislature.  "  The 
making  the  executive  the  mere  creature  of  the  legislature," 
replied  Mason,  "  is  a  violation  of  the  fundamental  principle  of 
good  government."  ^ 

"  The  occasion  is  so  important,"  said  Dickinson,  "  that  no 
man  ought  to  be  silent  or  reserved.  A  limited  monarchy  is 
one  of  the  best  governments  in  the  world.  Equal  blessings 
have  never  yet  been  derived  from  any  of  the  republican  forms. 
But,  though  a  form  the  most  perfect  perhaps  in  itself  be  unat- 
tainable, we  must  not  despair.  Of  remedies  for  the  diseases  of 
republics  which  have  flourished  for  a  moment  only  and  then 
vanished  forever,  one  is  the  double  branch  of  the  legislature, 
the  other  the  accidental  lucky  division  of  this  country  into 
distinct  states,  which  some  seem  desirous  to  abolish  altogether. 
This  division  ought  to  be  maintained,  and  considerable  powers 
to  be  left  with  the  states.     This  is  the  ground  of  my  consola- 

*  Gilpin,  119 ;  Elliot,  149.  |j  Gilpin,  770  ;  Elliot,  144. 

f  Gilpin,  763 ;  Elliot,  143.  ^  Gilpin,  776  ;  Elliot,  147. 

X  Gilpin,  767 ;  Elliot,  143.  0  Gilpi^.  '^'^6 ;  Elliot,  147. 

«=  Gilpin,  768  ;  Elliot,  143. 


/ 


/ 


222  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  oh.  i. 

tion  for  tlie  future  fate  of  my  country.  In  case  of  a  consolida- 
tion of  the  states  into  one  great  republic,  we  may  read  its  fate 
in  the  history  of  smaller  ones.  The  point  of  representation 
in  the  national  legislature  of  states  of  different  sizes  must  end 
in  mutual  concession.  I  hope  that  each  state  will  retain  an 
equal  voice,  at  least  in  one  branch  of  the  national  legislature."  * 
The  motion  of  Dickinson  was  sustained  only  by  Delaware ; 
and  the  executive  was  made  removable  on  "  impeachment  and 
conviction  of  malpractice  or  neglect  of  duty."  f  But  the  ad- 
vice on  the  distribution  of  suffrage  in  the  national  legislature 
sank  deep  into  the  minds  of  his  hearers. 

Eandolph  pleaded  anew  for  an  executive  body  of  three 
members,  one  from  each  of  the  three  geographical  divisions  of 
the  country.  "  That  would  lead  to  a  constant  struggle  for  local 
advantages,"  replied  Butler,  who  had  travelled  in  Holland ; 
and  from  his  own  observation  he  sketched  the  distraction  of 
the  Low  Countries  from  a  plurality  of  military  heads. :{:  "  Ex- 
ecutive questions,"  said  Wilson  on  the  fourth,  "  have  many 
sides ;  and  of  three  members  no  two  might  agree.*  All  the 
thirteen  states  place  a  single  magistrate  at  the  head.  Unity  in 
the  executive  will  favor  the  tranquillity  not  less  than  the  vigor 
/of  the  government."  ||  Assenting  to  unity  in  the  executive, 
J  Sherman  thought  a  council  necessary  to  make  that  unity  ac- 
/ceptable  to  the  people.  "  A  council,"  replied  Wilson,  "  of  tener 
(  covers  malpractices  than  prevents  them."  The  proposal  for  a 
single  executive  was  sustained  by  seven  states  against  ISTew 
York,  Delaware,  and  Maryland.  In  the  Virginia  delegation 
there  would  have  been  a  tie  but  for  AVashington."'^  The  de- 
cision v/as  reached  after  mature  deliberation,  and  was  accepted 
as  final. 

Wilson  and  Hamilton  desired  to  trust  the  executive  with 
an  absolute  negative  on  acts  of  legislation ;  but  this  was  op- 
posed, though  from  widely  differing  motives,  by  G-erry,  Frank- 
lin, Sherman,  Madison,  Butler,  Bedford,  and  Mason,^  and  was 
unanimously  negatived. 

*  Gilpin,  IIS;  Elliot,  148.  i  Gilpin,  781 ;  Elliot,  150. 
t  Gili  in,  779  ;  Elliot,  149.  ^  Gilpin,  782,  783 ;  Elliot,  151. 
X  Gilpin,  780 ;  Elliot,  149.  ^  Gilpin,  784-787;  Elliot,  151-154. 

*  Gilpin,  782;  Elliot,  150. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  223 

"When  Wilson  urged  upon  tlie  convention  the  Yirginia  plan 
of  vesting  a  limited  veto  on  legislation  in  a  council  of  revision 
composed  of  the  executive  and  a  convenient  number  of  the  ju- 
diciary, Gerry  called  to  mind  that  judges  had  in  some  states, 
and  with  general  approbation,  set  aside  laws  as  being  against 
the  constitution ;  but  that  from  the  nature  of  their  otiice  they 
were  unfit  to  be  consulted  on  the  policy  of  public  measures ; 
and,  after  the  example  of  his  own  state,  he  proposed  rather  to 
confide  the  veto  power  to  the  executive  alone,  subject  to  be 
overruled  by  two  thirds  of  each  branch.  "  Judges,"  said  Ruf us 
King  of  Massachusetts,  "  should  expound  the  law  as  it  may 
come  before  them,  free  from  the  bias  of  having  participated  in 
its  formation."  *  Gerry's  motion  was  carried  by  eight  states 
against  Connecticut  and  Maryland.f 

In  a  convention  composed  chiefly  of  lawyers,  the  organiza:-^ 
tion  of  the  judiciary  engaged  eager  attention ;  at  the  close  of  a  I 
long  sitting,  the  Virginia  resolution,  that  a  national  judiciary  L 
be  established,  passed  without  debate  and  unanimously,  with  a 
further  clause  that  the  national  judiciary  should  consist  of  one 
supreme  tribunal  and  of  one  or  more  inferior  tribunals.  J 

A  night's  reflection  developed  a  jealousy  of  transferring 
business  from  the  courts  of  the  states  to  the  courts  of  the 
union ;  and  on  the  fifth  Rutledge  and  Sherman  insisted  that 
state  tribunals  ought,  in  all  cases,  to  decide  in  the  first  instance, 
yet  without  impairing  the  right  of  appeal.  Madison  replied :  * 
"  Unless  inferior  tribunals  are  dispersed  throughout  the  repub- 
lic, in  many  cases  with  final  jurisdiction,  appeals  will  be  most 
oppressively  multiplied.  A  government  without  a  proper  e^^ 
ecutive  and  judiciary  will  be  the  mere  trunk  of  a  body,  without! 
arms  or  legs  to  act  or  move."  The  motion  to  dispense  with! 
the  inferior  national  tribunals  prevailed  ;  but  Dickinson,  Wil-  / 
son,  and  Madison,  marking  the  distinction  between  establishing/ 
them  and  giving  a  discretion  to  establish  them,  obtained  a  great 
majority  for  empowering  the  national  legislature  to  provide  for 
their  institution.  ||       On  the   thirteenth  it  was   unanimously 

*  Gilpin,  783  ;  Elliot,  151.  |  Gilpin,  790,  791 ;  Elliot,  155. 

t  Gilpin,  791 ;  Elliot,  155;  and  Elliot,  i.,  160. 

«  Gilpin,  798,  799  ;  Elliot,  159. 

II  Gilpin,  800;  Elliot,  160.     Compare  Elliot,  i.,  1G3,  097. 


224:  THE  FEDERAL  CON VENTIOK     b.  iii.  ;  oh.  i. 

r  agreed  "  that  tlie  power  of  tlie  national  judiciary  should  extend 
)  to  all  cases  of  national  revenue,  impeacliment  of  national  oiii- 
"'  cers,  and  questions  which  involve  tlie  national  peace  or  har- 
^^    monj."  * 

The  Yirginia  plan  intrusted  the  appointment  of  the  judges 
\  to  the  legislature ;  Wilson  proposed  to  transfer  it  to  the  execu- 
tive; Madison  to  the  senate;  and  on  the  thirteenth  the  last 
(  mode  was  accepted  without  dissent. f  All  agreed  that  their 
tenure  of  office  should  be  good  behavior,  and  that  their  com- 
pensation should  be  safe  from  diminution  during  the  period  of 
their  service. 

On  the  sixth  of  June,  Chaiies  Pincknej,  supported  by  Kut- 
ledge,  made  once  more  a  most  earnest  effort  in  favor  of  elect- 
ing the  first  branch  of  the  legislature  by  the  legislatures  of  the 
states,  and  not  by  the  people.  "  Vigorous  authority,"  insisted 
Wilson,  "  should  flow  immediately  from  the  legitimate  source 
of  all  authority,  the  people.  Eepresentation  ought  to  be  the 
exact  transcript  of  the  whole  society ;  it  is  made  necessary  only 
because  it  is  impossible  for  the  people  to  act  collectively."  "  If 
it  is  in  view,"  said  Sherman,  "to  abolish  the  state  governments, 
the  elections  ought  to  be  by  the  people.  If  they  are  to  be  con- 
tinued, the  elections  to  the  national  government  should  be  made 
by  them.  I  am  for  giving  the  general  government  power  to 
legislate  and  execute  within  a  defined  province.  The  objects 
of  the  union  are  few :  defence  against  foreign  danger,  internal 
disputes,  and  a  resort  to  force ;  treaties  with  foreign  nations ; 
the  regulation  of  foreign  commerce  and  drawing  revenue  from 
it.  These,  and  perhaps  a  few  lesser  objects,  alone  rendered  a 
confederation  of  the  states  necessary.  All  other  matters,  civil 
and  criminal,  will  be  much  better  in  the  hands  of  the  states."  J 

"  Under  the  existing  confederacy,"  said  Mason,  "  congress 
represent  the  states,  and  not  the  people  of  the  states;  their 
acts  operate  on  the  states,  not  on  individuals.  In  the  new  plan 
of  government  the  people  wiU  be  represented ;  they  ought, 
therefore,  to  choose  the  representatives.*  Improper  elections 
in  many  cases  are  inseparable  from  republican  governments. 

*  Gilpin,  855  ;  Elliot,  188 ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  409. 

f  Gilpin,  792,  793,  855;  Elliot,  155,  156,  188. 

i  Gilpin,  801,  802,  803 ;  Elliot,  160,  161.  =^  Gilpin,  803  ;  Elliot,  161, 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  225 

But  compare  these  with  the  advantage  of  this  form,  in  favor 
of  the  rights  of  the  people,  in  favor  of  human  nature  ! " 

Approving  the  objects  of  union  which  Sherman  had  enu- 
merated, "I  combine  with  them,"  said  Madison,  "the  necessity 
of  providing  more  effectually  for  the  security  of  private  rights 
and  the  steady  dispensation  of  justice."  *  And  he  explained 
at  great  length  that  the  safety  of  a  republic  requires  for  its 
jurisdiction  a  large  extent  of  territory,  with  interests  so  many 
and  so  various  that  the  majority  could  never  unite  in  the  pur- 
suit of  any  one  of  them.  "  It  is  incumbent  on  us,"  he  said, 
"  to  try  this  remedy,  and  to  frame  a  republican  system  on  such 
a  scale  and  in  such  a  form  as  will  control  all  the  evils  which 
have  been  experienced."  f 

"  It  is  essential,"  said  Dickinson,  "  that  one  branch  of  the 
legislature  should  be  drawn  immediately  from  the  people  ;  and 
it  is  expedient  that  the  other  should  be  chosen  by  the  legisla- 
tures of  the  states.  Tliis  combination  of  the  state  govern- 
ments with  the  national  government  is  as  politic  as  it  is  una- 
voidable." 

Pierce  spoke  for  an  election  of  the  first  branch  by  the  peo- 
ple, of  the  second  by  tlie  states ;  so  that  the  citizens  of  the 
states  will  be  represented  both  individually  and  collectively.  X 

When  on  the  twenty-first  the  same  question  was  revived 
in  the  convention,  Charles  Cotesv/orth  Pinckney  of  South 
Carolina,  seconded  by  Luther  Martin  of  Maryland,  adopting  a 
milder  form,  proposed  "  that  the  first  branch,  instead  of  being 
elected  by  the  people,  should  be  elected  in  such  manner  as  the 
legislature  of  each  state  should  direct."  * 

"  It  is  essential  to  the  democratic  rights  of  the  community," 
said  Hamilton,  enouncing  a  principle  which  he  upheld  with 
unswerving  consistency,  "that  the  first  branch  be  directly 
elected  by  the  people."  "  The  democratic  principle,"  Mason 
repeated,  "  must  actuate  one  part  of  the  government.  It  is  the 
only  security  for  the  rights  of  the  people."  "An  election  by 
the  legislature,"  pleaded  Kutledge,  "  would  be  a  more  refining 
process."  "  The  election  of  the  first  branch  by  the  people," 
said  Wilson,  "  is  not  the  corner-stone  only,  but  the  foundation 

*  Gilpin,  804 ;  Elliot,  162.  %  Gilpin,  807  ;  Elliot,  163. 

f  Gilpin,  806 ;  Elliot,  163.  »  Gilpin,  925 ;  Elliot,  223. 

VOL.  VI. — 15 


226  THE   FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  m.;cH.i. 

of  the  fabric."  *     Soutli  Carolina,  finding  herself  feebly  sup- 
ported, gave  up  the  struggle. 

On  the  seventh  of  June,  Dickinson  moved  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  second  branch,  or,  as  it  is  now  called,  the  senate, 
ought  to  be  chosen  by  tlie  individual  legislatures.!  The  mo- 
tion, without  waiving  the  claim  to  perfect  equality,  clearly 
implied  that  each  state  should  elect  at  least  one  senator.  "  If 
each  of  the  small  states  should  be  allowed  one  senator,"  said 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  "  there  will  be  eighty  at  least."  *'  I 
have  no  objection  to  eighty  or  twice  eighty  of  them,"  rejoined 
Dicldnson.  "  The  legislature  of  a  numerous  people  ought  to 
be  a  numerous  body.  I  wish  the  senate  to  bear  as  strong  a 
likeness  as  possible  to  the  British  house  of  lords,  and  to  consist 
of  men  distinguished  for  their  rank  in  life  and  their  weight  of 
property.  Sach  characters  are  more  likely  to  be  selected  by 
the  state  legislatures  than  in  any  other  mode."  "  To  depart 
from  the  proportional  representation  in  the  senate,"  said  Madi- 
son, "  is  inadmissible,  being  evidently  unjust.  The  use  of  the 
senate  is  to  consist  in  its  proceeding  with  more  coolness,  sys- 
tem, and  wisdom  than  the  popular  branch.  Enlarge  their 
number,  and  you  communicate  to  them  the  vices  which  they 
are  meant  to  correct.  Their  weight  will  be  in  an  inverse  ratio 
to  their  numbers."  Dickinson  replied  :  "  The  preservation  of 
the  states  in  a  certain  degree  of  agency  is  indispensable.  The 
proposed  national  system  is  like  the  solar  system,  in  which  the 
states  are  the  planets,  and  they  ought  to  be  left  to  move  more 
freely  in  their  proper  orbits."  J 

"  The  states,"  answered  Wilson,  "  are  in  no  danger  of  being 
devoured  by  the  national  government ;  I  wish  to  keep  them 
from  devouring  the  national  government.  Their  existence  is 
made  essential  by  the  great  extent  of  our  country.  I  am  for  an 
election  of  the  second  branch  by  the  people  in  large  districts, 
subdividing  the  districts  only  for  the  accommodation  of  voters." 
Gerry  and  Sherman  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  electing 
the  senate  by  the  individual  legislatures.  From  Charles  Pinck- 
ney  came  a  proposal  to  divide  the  states  periodically  into  three 

*  Gilpin,  926,  927  ;  Elliot,  223,  224.     Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  432,  433. 

f  Gilpin,  812;  Elliot,  IGG. 

X  Gilpin,  813,  814,  815  ;  Elliot,  166,  167. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  227 

classes  according  to  their  comparative  importance ;  the  first 
class  to  have  three  members,  the  second  two,  and  the  third  one 
member  each ;  but  it  received  no  attention.  Mason  closed  the 
debate  :  "  The  state  legislatures  ought  to  have  some  means  of 
defending  themselves  against  encroachments  of  the  national 
government.  And  what  better  means  can  we  provide  than  to 
make  them  a  constituent  part  of  the  national  establishment? 
'No  doubt  there  is  danger  on  both  sides ;  but  we  have  only 
seen  the  evils  arising  on  the  side  of  the  state  governments. 
Those  on  the  other  side  remain  to  be  displayed ;  for  congress 
had  not  power  to  carry  their  acts  into  execution,  as  the  national 
government  will  now  have."  The  vote  was  then  taken,  and 
the  choice  of  the  second  branch  or  senate  was  with  one  consent 
intrusted  to  the  individual  legislatures.  In  this  way  the  states 
as  states  made  their  lodgment  in  the  new  constitution.* 

The  equality  of  the  small  states  was  next  imperilled.  On 
the  ninth,  David  Brearley,  the  chief  justice  of  New  Jersey,  \ 
vehemently  protested  against  any  change  of  the  equal  suffrage 
of  the  states.  To  the  remark  of  Randolph,  that  the  states 
ought  to  be  one  nation,  Paterson  replied :  "  The  idea  of  a 
national  government  as  contradistinguished  from  a  federal 
one  never  entered  into  the  mind  of  any  of  the  states.  If  the 
states  are  as  states  still  to  continue  in  union,  they  must  be 
considered  as  equals.  Thirteen  sovereign  and  independent 
states  can  never  constitute  one  nation,  and  at  the  same  time 
be  states.  If  we  are  to  be  formed  into  a  nation,  the  states  as 
states  must  be  abolished,  and  the  whole  must  be  thrown  into 
hotchpot,  and  when  an  equal  division  is  made  there  may  be 
fairly  an  equality  of  representation.  New  Jersey  will  never 
confederate  on  the  plan  before  the  committee.  I  would  rather 
submit  to  a  despot  than  to  such  a  fate.  I  will  not  only  oppose 
the  plan  here,  but  on  my  return  home  will  do  everything  in 
my  power  to  defeat  it  there."  f 

When,  on  the  eleventh,  the  committee  of  the  w^hole  was 
about  to  take  the  question,  Franklin,  ever  the  peace-maker, 
reproved  the  want  of  coolness  and  temper  in  the  late  debates. 

*  Gilpin,  817,  818,  821  ;  Elliot,  1G8, 169,  170 ;  and  i.,  1G5,  399. 
■{■  Paterson  MSS.     Gilpin,  831,  832 ;  and  compare  STO,  902,  903 ;  Elliot,  176, 
177,  194,  211. 


228  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  iii.  ;  ch.  i. 

"  We  are  sent  here,"  lie  said,  "  to  consult,  not  to  contend  with 
each  other;"  and,  though  he  mingled  crude  proposals  with 
wholesome  precepts,  he  saw  the  danger  of  the  pass  into  which 
they  were  entering.  There  were  six  states,  two  northern  and 
four  southern,  demanding  a  representation  in  some  degree  pro- 
portioned to  numbers — Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
and  the  two  Carolinas  with  Georgia,  whose  delegates,  as  they  con- 
templated her  vast  and  most  fertile  territory,  indulged  in  glow- 
ing visions  of  her  swift  advances.  There  were  two  northern 
with  one  southern  state  for  an  equal  representation  of  states — 
]^ew  York,  'New  Jersey,  and  Delaware.  Connecticut  stood 
between  the  two.  It  was  carried  by  the  six  national  states 
and  Connecticut  against  the  three  confederating  states,  Mary- 
land being  divided,  that  in  the  first  branch,  or  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, of  the  national  legislature,  the  suffrage  ought  to  be 
according  to  some  equitable  ratio.  In  April  1783,  congress 
had  apportioned  the  sup^Dlies  of  the  states  for  the  common 
treasury  to  the  whole  number  of  their  free  inhabitants  and 
three  fifths  of  other  persons ;  in  this  precedent  the  equitable 
ratio  for  representation  in  the  popular  branch  was  found.* 

Connecticut  then  took  the  lead  ;  and  Sherman,  acting  upon 
a  principle  which  he  had  avowed  more  than  ten  years  before, 
moved  that  each  state  should  have  one  vote  in  the  second 
branch,  or  senate.  "Everything,"  he  said,  "depends  on  this; 
the  smaller  states  will  never  agree  to  the  plan  on  any  other 
principle  than  an  equality  of  suffrage  in  this  branch."  Ells- 
worth shored  up  his  colleague ;  but  they  rallied  only  five  states 
against  the  six  which  had  demanded  a  proportioned  represen- 
tation. 

Finally  Wilson  and  Hamilton  proposed  for  the  second 
branch  the  same  rule  of  suffrage  as  for  the  first ;  and  this,  too, 
was  carried  by  the  phalanx  of  the  same  six  states  against  the 
remaining  five.  So  the  settlement  offered  by  Wilson,  Hamil- 
ton, Madison,  Rutledge,  and  others,  to  the  small  states,  and 
adopted  in  the  committee  of  the  whole,  was:  The  appoint- 
ment of  the  senators  among  the  states  according  to  represen- 
tative population,  except  that  each  state  should  have  at  least 
one. 

*  Gilpin,  843;  Elliot,  181. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  OUTLINE.  229 

The  convention  speeded  through  the  remainder  of  the  Vir- 
ginia plan.  A  guarantee  to  each  state  of  its  territory  was  de- 
clined. A  republican  constitution,  the  only  one  suited  to  the 
genius  of  the  United  States,  to  the  principles  on  which  thej 
had  conducted  their  war  for  independence,  to  their  assumjDtion 
before  the  world  of  the  responsibility  of  demonstrating  man's 
capacity  for  self-government,  was  guaranteed  to  each  one  of 
the  United  States. 

The  requirement  of  an  oath  from  the  highest  state  officers 
to  support  the  articles  of  union  was  opposed  by  Shennan  *  as 
an  intrusion  into  the  state  jurisdictions,  and  supported  by  Ran- 
dolph as  a  necessary  precaution.  "  An  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
states  from  national  officers  might  as  well  be  required,"  said 
Gerry.  Martin  observed:  "If  the  new  oath  should  conflict 
with  that  already  taken  by  state  officers,  it  would  be  improp- 
er ;  if  coincident,  it  would  be  superfluous."  f  The  clause  was 
retained  by  the  vote  of  the  six  national  states.  By  the  same 
vote  the  new  system  was  referred  for  consideration  and  deci- 
sion to  assemblies  chosen  expressly  for  the  purpose  by  the 
people  of  the  several  states.  The  articles  of  union  were  there- 
after open  to  "  amendment  whensoever  it  should  seem  neces- 
sary." 

Sherman  and  Ellsworth,  speaking  on  the  twelfth,  wished 
the  members  of  the  popular  branch  to  be  chosen  annually. 
"  The  people  of  New  England,"  said  Gerry,  "  will  never  give 
up  annual  elections."  J  "  "We  ought,"  replied  Madison,  "  to 
consider  what  is  right  and  necessary  in  itself  for  the  attain- 
ment of  a  proper  government ; "  and  his  proposal  of  a  term  of 
three  years  was  adopted  for  the  time ;  though,  to  humor  the 
eastern  states,  it  was  afterward  changed  to  two.  The  ineligi- 
bility of  members  of  congress  to  national  offices  was  limited  to 
one  year  after  their  retirement ;  but,  on  the  motion  of  Charles 
Pinckney,  the  restriction  on  their  re-election  was  removed,  and 
the  power  of  recalling  them,  which  was  plainly  inconsistent 
with  their  choice  by  the  people,  was  taken  away.* 

The  qualification  of  age  was  at  a  later  day  fixed  at  twenty- 
five  years  for  the  branch  elected  by  the  people.     For  senators 

*  Gilpin,  845  ;  Elliot,  1S2.  t  Gilpin,  847 ;  Elliot,  184. 

t  Gilpin,  845  ;  Elliot,  183.  «  Gilpin,  851 ;  Elliot,  185. 


230  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTIOX.  b.  in. ;  oh.  i. 

the  q-aaliiicatioii  of  age  was  at  that  time  fixed  at  thirty.  Pierce 
would  have  limited  their  term  of  service  to  three  years ;  Sher- 
man to  not  more  than  -Q-ve ;  but  a  great  majority  held  seven 
years  by  no  means  too  long. 

The  resolutions  of  the  committee  departed  from  the  origi- 
nal plan  of  Yirginia  but  rarely,  and,  for  the  most  part,  for  the 
better.  Thus  amended,  it  formed  a  complete  outline  of  a  fed- 
eral republic.  The  mighty  work  was  finished  in  thirteen  ses- 
sions, with  little  opposition  except  from  the  small  states,  and 
from  them  chiefly  because  they  insisted  on  equality  of  suffrage 
in  at  least  one  branch  of  the  leojislature. 


1787.  NEW  JEPwSEY  CLAIMS  EQUAL  REPKESENTATIOK    231 


CHAPTEE  11. 

NEW   JERSEY   CLAIMS   AN   EQUAL   KEPEESENTATION   OF   THE 

STATES. 

The  Fifteenth  to  the  Nineteenth  of  June  1787. 

The  plan  of  Yirginia  divested  the  smaller  states  of  the 
equality  of  suffrage,  wliicli  they  had  enjoyed  from  the  incep- 
tion of  the  union.  "  See  the  consequence  of  pushing  things 
too  far,"  said  Dickinson  to  Madison ;  the  smaller  states,  though 
some  of  their  members,  Hke  himself  and  the  delegates  from 
Connecticut,  wished  for  a  good  national  government  with  two 
branches  of  the  legislature,  were  compelled,  in  seK-def  ence,  to 
fall  back  upon  the  articles  of  confederation.* 

The  project  which  in  importance  stands  next  to  that  of 
Yirginia  is  the  series  of  propositions  of  Connecticut.  It  con- 
sisted of  nine  sections,  and  in  the  sessions  of  the  convention 
received  the  support  of  every  one  of  the  Connecticut  delega- 
tion, particularly  of  Sherman  and  Ellsworth.  It  was  framed 
while  they  were  still  contriving  amendments  of  the  articles  of 
the  confederation.!     It  gave  to  the  legislature  of  the  United 

*Gilpm,  863,  note;  Elliot,  191. 

f  Therefore,  certainly,  before  19  June,  and  probably  soon  after  the  arrival  of 
Sherman  in  Philadelphia.  The  Connecticut  members  were  not  chosen  till  Satur- 
day, the  twelfth  of  Hay.  Ellsworth  took  his  seat  the  twenty-eighth  of  May,  Sher- 
man the  thirtieth,  and  Johnson  the  second  of  June.  For  the  plan,  see  the  Life  of 
Roger  Sherman  by  Jeremiah  Evarts,  in  Biography  of  the  Signers,  Ed.  of  1828, 
pp.  42-41.  It  may  be  that  Sherman  drew  the  paper  ;  but  one  of  the  articles  cor- 
responds with  the  sixth  recommendation  of  a  committee  on  which  Ellsworth 
served  with  Randolph  in  1781  ;  and  is  very  similar  to  a  proposition  made  in  1786 
by  a  sub-committee  of  which  Johnson  was  a  member ;  and  another,  the  sixth,  doca 
no  more  than  adopt  the  report  of  a  committee  of  which  Ellsworth  was  a  member 
with  Hamilton  and  Madison  in  1783.     It  is  hard  to  say  whether  Sherman  or  EUs- 


232  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION".  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  ii. 

States  the  power  over  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  be- 
tween the  states  in  the  union,  with  a  revenue  from  customs 
and  the  post-office.  The  United  States  were  to  make  laws  in 
all  cases  which  concerned  their  common  interests ;  but  not  to 
interfere  with  the  governments  of  the  states  in  matters  where- 
in the  general  welfare  of  the  United  States  is  not  affected. 
The  laws  of  the  United  States  relating  to  their  common  inter- 
ests were  to  be  enforced  bj  the  judiciary  and  executive  officers 
of  the  respective  states.  The  United  States  were  to  institute 
one  supreme  tribunal  and  other  necessary  tribunals,  and  to  as- 
certain their  respective  powers  and  jurisdiction.  The  individ- 
ual states  were  forbidden  to  emit  bills  of  credit  for  a  currency, 
or  to  make  laws  for  the  payment  or  discharge  of  debts  or  con- 
tracts in  any  manner  diifering  from  the  agreement  of  the  par- 
ties, whereby  foreigners  and  the  citizens  of  other  states  might 
be  affected.  The  common  treasury  was  to  be  supplied  by  the 
several  states  in  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  white  and 
other  free  citizens  and  inhabitants  and  three  fifths  of  all  other 
persons,  except  Indians  not  paying  taxes,  in  each  state.  Should 
any  state  neglect  to  furnish  its  quota  of  supplies,  the  United 
States  might  levy  and  collect  the  same  on  the  inhabitants  of 
such  state.  The  United  States  might  call  forth  aid  from  the 
people  to  assist  the  civil  officers  in  the  execution  of  their  laws. 
The  trial  for  a  criminal  offence  must  be  by  jury,  and  must  take 
place  within  the  state  in  which  the  offence  shall  have  been 
committed. 

The  task  of  leading  resistance  to  the  large  states  fell  to  ISTew 
Jersey.  Paterson,  one  of  its  foremost  statesmen,  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  brought  from  Ireland  in  infancy,  a  graduate  of 
Princeton,  desired  a  thoroughly  good  general  government. 
Cheerful  in  disposition,  playful  in  manner,  and  of  an  even 
temper,  he  was  undisturbed  by  resentments,  and  knew  how  to 
bring  back  his  friends  from  a  disappointment  to  a  good  humor 
with  themselves  and  with  the  world.*     In  his  present  under- 

■worth  was  the  prreatcst  hater  of  paper  money.  Compare  Gilpin,  1345,  1442;  El- 
liot, 435,485.  For  proof  of  their  unity  of  action,  compare  tbcir  joint  letter  from 
New  London,  26  September  HSY,  to  Governor  Huntington  of  Connecticut,  in 
Elliot,  i.,  491. 

*  Dayton  to  Tatcrson,  1  February  ISOl.     US. 


1787.  NEW  JERSEY  CLAIMS  EQUAL  REPRESENTzVTION.    233 

taking  lie  was  obliged  to  call  around  liim  a  group  of  states 
agreeing  in  almost  nothing.  New  York,  his  strongest  ally, 
acted  only  from  faction.  New  Jersey  itself  needed  j^rotection 
for  its  commerce  against  New  York.  Luther  Martin  could 
bring  the  support  of  Maryland  only  in  the  absence  of  a  ma- 
jority of  his  colleagues.  TJie  people  of  Connecticut  *  saw  the 
need  of  a  vigorous  general  government,  with  a  legislature  in 
two  branches. 

The  plan  of  New  Jersey,  which  Paterson  presented  on  the 
fifteenth,  was  a  revision  of  the  articles  of  confederation.  It 
preserved  a  congress  of  states  in  a  single  body  ;  granted  to  the 
United  States  a  revenue  from  duties,  stamps,  and  the  post-office, 
but  nothing  more  except  by  requisitions  ;  established  a  plural 
executive  to  be  elected  and  to  be  removable  by  congress  ;  and 
conferred  on  state  courts  original  though  not  final  jurisdiction 
over  infractions  of  United  States  laws.f 

"  The  New  Jersey  system,"  said  John  Lansing  J  of  New 
York,  on  the  sixteenth,  "  is  federal ;  the  Virginia  system,  na- 
tional. Li  the  first,  the  powers  flow  from  the  state  governments ; 
in  the  second,  they  derive  authority  from  the  people  of  the 
states,  and  must  ultimately  annihilate  the  state  governments. 
We  are  invested  only  with  power  to  alter  and  amend  defective 
parts  of  the  present  confederation."  * 

Now  the  powers  granted  by  Virginia  extended  to  "  all  fur- 
ther provisions  necessary  to  render  the  federal  constitution 
adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  Union."  "  Fully  adequate," 
were  the  still  more  energetic  words  of  Pennsylvania.  New 
Jersey  did  not  so  much  as  name  the  articles  of  confedera- 
tion ;  while  Connecticut  limited  the  discussions  of  its  dele- 
gates only  by  "the  general  principles  of  republican  govern- 
ment." 1 

The  states,  Lansing  further  insisted,  would  not  ratify  a 

*  Gilpin,  S62,  863,  Elliot,  191,  note,  wrongly  classes  New  York  and  Connecti- 
cut together.  In  conduct  and  intention  the  delegates  of  Connecticut  were  very 
unlike  Yates  and  Lansing. 

f  Paterson  MSS. ;  Elliot,!.,  175-177;  Gilpin,  8G3-8G7 ;  Elliot,  191-193. 

X  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  411 ;  compared  v.  ith  Gilpin,  867  ;  Elliot,  193  ;  Paterson 
MSS. 

»  Gilpin,  857  ;  Elliot,  193  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  411. 

I  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.     Appendix. 


23i  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION".  b.  iii.  ;  ch.  n. 

novel  sclieme,  wHle  they  would  readily  approve  an  augmenta- 
tion of  the  familiar  authority  of  congress.* 

Paterson  next  spoke  with  the  skill  of  a  veteran  advocate, 
setting  forth,  "not  his  own  opinions,"  as  he  frankly  and  re- 
peatedly avowedjt  but  "  the  views  of  those  who  sent  him." 

"  The  system  of  government  for  the  union  wliicli  I  have  pro- 
posed accords  with  our  own  powers  and  with  the  sentiments  of 
the  people,  j^  If  the  subsisting  confederation  is  so  radically 
defective  as  not  to  admit  of  amendment,  let  us  report  its  in- 
sufficiency and  wait  for  enlarged  powers.  If  no  confederation 
at  present  exists,  all  the  states  stand  on  the  footing  of  equal 
sovereignty  ;  and  all  must  concur  before  any  one  can  be  bound.* 
If  a  federal  compact  exists,  an  equal  sovereignty  is  its  basis  ; 
and  the  dissent  of  one  state  renders  every  proposed  amendment 
null.  The  confederation  is  in  the  nature  of  a  compact ;  and 
can  any  state,  unless  by  the  consent  of  the  whole,  either  in 
politics  or  law,  withdraw  its  powers  ?  The  larger  states  con- 
tribute most,  but  they  have  more  to  protect ;  a  rich  state  and 
a  poor  state  are  in  the  same  relation  as  a  rich  individual  and  a 
poor  one :  tlie  liberty  of  the  latter  must  be  preserved.  Two 
branches  are  not  necessary  in  the  supreme  council  of  the  states ; 
the  representatives  from  the  several  states  are  checks  upon  each 
other.  Give  congress  the  same  powers  that  are  intended  for 
the  two  branches,  and  I  apprehend  they  will  act  with  more 
energy  and  wisdom  than  the  latter.  Congress  is  the  sun  of  our 
political  system."  || 

Wilson  refuted  Paterson  by  contrasting  the  two  plans.^^ 
"  The  congress  of  the  confederacy,"  he  continued,  "  is  a  single 
legislature.  Theory  and  practice  both  proclaim  that  in  a  single 
house  there  is  danger  of  a  legislative  despotism."  ^  Cotesworth 
Pinckney  added  :  "  The  whole  case  comes  to  this  :  give  ISTew 
Jersey  an  equal  vote,  and  she  will  dismiss  her  scruples  and  con- 
cur in  the  national  system."  J 

*  Gilpin,  868,  859  ;  Elliot,  194. 

I  Paterson  MSS.     The  informants  of  England  name  Governor  Livingston  as 
author  of  the  system.  X  Gilpin,  8G9  ;  Elliot,  194 ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  412, 

#  Gilpin,  r69;  Elliot,  194.  ||  Paterson  MSS. 
^  Gilpin,  871 ;  Elliot,  195  ;  Elliot,  i.,  414  ;  Paterson  MSS. 

0  Gilpin,  874  ;  Elliot,  196. 

;f  Gilpin,  875  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  415;  Elliot,  197;  Paterson  MSS. 


1787.   NEW  JERSEY   CLAIMS  EQUAL  REPRESENTATION.     235 

"  When  tliQ  salvation  of  the  republic  is  at  stake,"  said  Ean- 
dolpli,  "it  would  be  treason  to  our  trust  not  to  propose  what 
we  find  necessary.^'  Tlie  insufficiency  of  tbe  federal  plan  has 
been  fully  displayed  by  trial.  The  end  of  a  general  govern- 
ment can  be  attained  only  by  coercion,  or  by  real  legislation. 
Coercion  is  impracticable,  expensive,  and  cruel,  and  trains  up 
instruments  for  tlie  service  of  ambition.  We  must  resort  to  a 
national  legislation  over  individuals.  To  vest  such  power  in 
the  congress  of  the  confederation  would  be  blending  the  legis- 
lative with  the  executive.  Elected  by  the  legislatures  who  re- 
tain even  a  power  of  recall,  they  are  a  mere  diplomatic  body, 
with  no  will  of  their  own,  and  always  obsequious  to  the  states 
who  are  ever  encroaching  on  the  authority  of  the  United  States.f 
A  national  government,  properly  constituted,  will  alone  an- 
swer the  purpose ;  and  this  is  the  only  moment  v/hen  it  can  bo 
established."  if 

On  the  morning  of  the  eighteenth,  Dickinson,  to  conciliate 
the  conflicting  parties,  induced  the  convention  to  proceed 
through  a  revision  of  the  articles  of  the  confederation  to  a 
government  of  the  United  States,  adequate  to  the  exigencies, 
preservation,  and  prosperity  of  the  union.* 

Hamilton  could  no  longer  remain  silent.  Embarrassed  by 
the  complete  antagonism  of  both  his  colleagues,  he  yet  insisted 
that  even  the  New  York  delegates  need  not  doubt  the  ample 
extent  of  their  powers,  and  under  them  the  right  to  the  free 
exercise  of  their  judgment.  The  convention  could  only  pro- 
pose and  recommend ;  to  ratify  or  reject  remained  "  in  the 
states."  II 

Feeling  that  another  ineffectual  effort  "  would  beget  de- 
spair," he  spoke  for  "  a  solid  plan  without  regard  to  temporary 
opinions."  "  Our  choice,"  he  said,  "  is  to  engraft  powers  on 
the  present  confederation,  or  to  form  a  new  government  with 
complete  sovereignty."  ^  He  set  forth  the  vital  defects  of  the 
confederacy,  and  that  it  could  not  be  amended  except  by  in- 
vesting it  with  most  im.portant  powers.     To  do  so  would  estab- 

*  Gilpin,  876  ;  Elliot,  197  ;  Paterson  MSS.        f  Gilpin,  876,  877  ;  Elliot,  198. 
t  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  4-17;  Gilpin,  877-879  ;  Elliot,  198  ;  Paterson  MSS. 

*  Gilpin,  878  ;  Elliot,  198.  ||  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  418. 
•^Hamilton's  Vy''orks,  ii.,  410. 


236  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  ii. 

lish  a  general  government  in  one  hand  without  checks  ;  a  sov- 
ereignty of  the  worst  kind,  the  sovereignty  of  a  single  body. 
This  is  a  conclusive  objection  to  the  Jersey  plan.* 

"  I  have  great  doubts,"  he  continued,  "  whether  a  national 
government  on  the  Virginia  plan  can  be  effectual. f  Gentle- 
men say  we  need  to  be  rescued  from  the  democracy.  But 
what  are  the  means  proposed  ?  A  democratic  assembly  is  to  be 
checked  by  a  democratic  senate,  and  both  these  by  a  democratic 
chief  magistrate.  J  The  Yirginia  plan  is  but  pork  still  with  a 
little  change  of  the  sauce.*  It  will  prove  inefficient,  because 
the  means  vail  not  be  equal  to  the  object.  || 

"The  general  government  must  not  only  have  a  strong 
Boul,  but  strong  organs  by  which  that  soul  is  to  operate.^  I 
despair  that  a  republican  form  of  government  can  remove  the 
difficulties ;  I  would  hold  it,  however,  unwise  to  change  it.  ^ 
The  best  form  of  government,  not  attainable  by  us,  but  the 
model  to  which  we  should  approach  as  near  as  possible,  J  is 
the  British  constitution,  ^  praised  by  Xecker  as  '  the  only  gov- 
ernment which  unites  public  strength  with  individual  se- 
curity.' t  Its  house  of  lords  is  a  most  noble  institution.  It 
forms  a  permanent  barrier  against  every  pernicious  innovation, 
whether  attempted  on  the  part  of  the  crown  or  of  the  com- 
mons.** 

"  It  seems  to  be  admitted  that  no  good  executive  can  be 
established  upon  republican  principles.ff  The  English  model 
is  the  only  good  one.  The  British  executive  is  placed  above 
temptation,  and  can  have  no  interest  distinct  from  the  public 
welfare.  :j::j:  The  mference  from  these  observations  is,  that,  to 
obtain  stability  and  permanency,  we  ought  to  go  to  the  full 
length  that  republican  principles  will  admit.**  And  the  govern- 
ment will  be  republican  so  long  as  all  officers  are  appointed  by 

*nannlton's  Works,  ii.,  412  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  420,  421. 

f  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  417.  t  Hamilton,  ii.,  415. 

#  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  423  ;  Gilpin,  893,  note  ;  Elliot,  205. 

I  Hamilton,  ii.,  415.  ^  Hamilton,  ii.,  413. 

^  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  421.  %  Hamilton,  ii.,  413. 

i  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  421  ;  Hamilton,  ii.,  413.  ±  Gilpin,  886  ;   Elliot,  202. 

*«  Gilpin,  8S6,  887  ;  Elliot,  203.  ff  Gilpin,  887  ;  Elliot,  203. 

Xt  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  422. 

*»  Gilpin,  888  ;  Elliot,  2C3  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  422. 


1787.  NEW  JERSEY  CLAIMS  EQUAL  REPEESENTATIOK    237 

the  people,  or  by  a  process  of  election  originating  with  the 
people." 

Hamilton  then  read  and  commented  on  his  sketch  of  a  con- 
stitntion  for  the  United  States.  It  planted  no  one  branch  of 
the  general  government  on  the  states ;  but,  by  methods  even 
more  national  than  that  of  the  Virginia  plan,  derived  them  all 
from  the  people. 

The  assembly,  which  was  to  be  the  corner-stone  of  the  edi- 
fice, was  to  consist  of  persons  elected  directly  by  the  people  for 
three  years.  It  was  to  be  checked  by  a  senate  elected  by  elect- 
ors chosen  by  the  people,*  and  holding  office  during  good  be- 
havior. The  supreme  executive,  whose  term  of  office  was  to 
be  good  behavior,  was  to  be  elected  by  electors,  chosen  by  elect- 
ors, chosen  by  the  people.f  "  It  may  be  said,"  these  were  his 
words,  "  this  constitutes  an  elective  monarchy ;  but  by  making 
the  executive  subject  to  impeachment  the  term  monarchy  can 
not  apply."  :j:  The  courts  of  the  United  States  were  so  insti- 
tuted as  to  place  the  general  government  above  the  state 
governments  in  all  matters  of  general  concern.*  To  prevent 
the  states  from  passing  laws  contrary  to  the  constitution  or 
laws  of  the  United  States,  the  executive  of  each  state  was  to  be 
appointed  by  the  general  government  with  a  negative  on  all 
state  legislation. 

Hamilton  spoke,  not  to  refer  a  proposition  to  the  com- 
mittee, but  only  to  present  his  own  ideas,  and  to  indicate  the 
amendments  v/hich  he  might  offer  to  the  Yirginia  plan.  He 
saw  evils  operating  in  the  states  which  must  soon  cure  the 
people  of  their  fondness  for  democracies,  and  unshackle  them 
from  their  prejudices ;  so  that  they  would  be  ready  to  go  as  far  at 
least  as  he  had  suggested.  ||  But  for  the  moment  he  held  it  the 
duty  of  the  convention  to  balance  inconveniences  and  dangers, 
and  choose  that  which  seemed  to  have  the  fewest  objections."^ 

Hamilton  "was  praised  by  everybody,  but  supported  by 
none."  ()     It  was  not  the  good  words  for  the  monarchy  of 

I  think  Hamilton  meant  the  choice  of  electors  to  be  made  by  the  landholders  ; 
pee  his  fuller  plan,  written  out  by  himself  and  given  to  Madison  near  the  close  of 
the  convention.     The  senate  of  New  York  was  so  chosen. 

f  Elliot,  i.,  179.  X  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  422.        #  Ibid.,  423. 

I  Gilpin,  890 ;  Elliot,  2C4.       ^  Hamilton,  ii.,  415.        ()  Yates  in  Elliot,  i ,  431. 


238  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  b.  hi.  ;  en.  ii. 

Great  Britain  that  enstranged  Lis  hearers.  Hamilton  did  not 
go  far  beyond  the  language  of  Randolph,*  or  Dickinson,f  or 
Gerry,  :j:  or  Charles  Piuckney.*  The  attachment  to  monarchy 
in  the  United  States  had  not  been  consumed  by  vobanic  fire ; 
it  had  disappeared  because  there  was  nothing  left  in  them  to 
keep  it  alive.  The  nation  imperceptibly  and  without  bitter- 
ness outgrew  its  old  habits  of  thought.  Gratitude  for  the  revo- 
lution of  1G88  still  threw  a  halo  round  the  house  of  lords.  But 
Hamilton,  finding  a  home  in  the  United  States  only  after  his 
mind  was  near  maturity,  did  not  cherish  toward  the  states  the 
feeling  of  those  who  were  bom  and  bred  on  the  soil,  and  had 
received  into  their  affections  the  thought  and  experience  of  the 
preceding  generation.  His  speech  called  forth  from  many 
sides  the  liveliest  defence  of  the  rights  of  the  states. 

On  the  nineteenth  the  convention  in  committee  rejected  the 
milder  motion  of  Dickinson  ;  and,  after  an  exhaustive  analysis 
by  Madison  ||  of  the  defects  in  the  New  Jersey  plan,  they  re- 
ported the  amended  plan  of  Yirginia  by  the  vote  of  the  six  na- 
tional states,  aided  by  the  vote  of  Connecticut.^ 

*  Gilpin,  763  ;  Elliot,  141.  f  Gilpin,  118  ;  Elliot,  148. 

X  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  408.  *  Gilpin,  947  ;  ElUot,  234. 

II  Gilpin,  89;i ;  Elliot,  206. 

^  Gilpin,  904  ;  Elliot,  212  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  425. 


178T.  THE   CONNECTICUT  COMPPwOMISE.  239 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   CONNECTICUT   COMPKOIvnSE. 

Feom  19  June  to  2  July  1787. 

The  convention,  whicli  had  sliown  itseK  so  resolute  for 
consolidating  the  union,  next  bethought  itself  of  home  rule. 
In  reply  to  what  had  fallen  from  Hamilton,  Wilson  said,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  June  :  "  I  am  for  a  national  government,  but  not 
one  that  will  swallow  up  the  state  governments ;  these  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  purposes  which  the  national  government 
cannot  reach." 

"  I  did  not  intend  yesterday,"  exclaimed  Hamilton,  "  a  total 
extinguishment  of  state  governments ;  but  that  a  national  gov- 
ernment must  have  indefinite  sovereignty ;  for  if  it  were  lim- 
ited at  all,  the  rivalship  of  the  states  would  gradually  subvert 
it.*  The  states  must  retain  subordinate  jurisdictions."  f  '*  If 
the  states,"  said  King,  "  retain  some  portion  of  their  sovereign- 
ty, they  have  certainly  divested  themselves  of  essential  portions 
of  it.  If,  in  some  respects,  they  form  a  confederacy,  in  others 
they  form  a  nation." 

Martin  held  that  the  separation  from  Great  Britain  placed 
the  thirteen  states  in  a  state  of  nature  toward  each  other.  J 
This  Wilson  denied,  saying :  "  In  the  declaration  of  independ- 
ence the  united  colonies  were  declared  to  be  free  and  independ- 
ent states,  independent,  not  individually,  but  unitedly."  * 

Connecticut,  which  was  in  all  sincerity  partly  federal  and 
partly  national,  was  now  compelled  to  take  the  lead.     As  a 

*  Gilpin,  904;  Elliot,  212.  X  Gi'piu,  906,  907;  Elliot,  213. 

f  Yctcs  in  Elliot,  i.,  426.  »  Gilpin,  907  ;  Elliot,  213. 


240  THE  FEDERAL   C0NVENTI02T.  b.  hi.  ;  en.  m. 

state  she  was  tlie  most  homogeneous  and  the  most  fixed  in 
the  character  of  her  consociate  churches  and  her  complete  sys- 
tem of  home  government.  Her  delegation  to  the  convention 
was  thrice  remarkable :  they  had  precedence  in  age ;  in  experi- 
ence, from  1776  to  1786  on  committees  to  frame  or  amend  a 
constitution  for  the  country ;  and  in  illustrating  the  force  of 
religion  in  human  life. 

Eoger  Sherman  was  a  unique  man.  "No  one  in  the  conven- 
tion had  had  so  large  experience  in  legislating  for  the  United 
States.  Next  to  Franklin  the  oldest  man  in  the  convention, 
like  FrankHn  he  had  had  no  education  but  in  the  common 
school  of  his  birthplace  hard  by  Boston ;  and  as  the  one  learned 
the  trade  of  a  tallow-chandler,  so  the  other  had  been  appren- 
ticed to  a  shoemaker. 

Left  at  nineteen  an  orphan  on  the  father's  side,  he  minis- 
tered to  his  mother  during  her  long  life  ;  and  having  suffered 
from  the  want  of  a  liberal  education,  he  provided  it  for  his 
younger  brothers.  Hesolved  to  conquer  poverty,  at  the  age  of 
two-and-twenty  he  wrapped  himself  in  his  own  manliness,  and, 
bearing  with  him  the  tools  of  his  trade,  he  migrated  on  foot  to 
New  Milford,  in  Connecticut,  where  he  gained  a  living  by  his 
craft  or  by  trade,  until  in  December  1754,  after  careful  study, 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

There  was  in  him  kind-heartedness  and  industry,  penetra- 
tion and  close  reasoning,  an  unclouded  intellect,  superiority  to 
passion,  intrepid  patriotism,  solid  judgment,  and  a  directness 
which  went  straight  to  its  end  ;  so  that  the  country  people 
among  whom  he  lived,  first  at  New  Milford  and  then  at  New 
Haven,  gave  him  every  possible  sign  of  their  confidence.  The 
church  made  him  its  deacon ;  Yale  college  its  treasurer  ;  New 
Haven  its  representative,  and,  when  it  became  a  city,  its  first 
mayor,  re-electing  him  as  long  as  he  lived.  For  nineteen  years 
he  was  annually  chosen  one  of  the  fourteen  assistants,  or  upper 
house  of  the  legislature ;  and  for  twenty-three  years  a  judge  of 
the  court  of  common  pleas,  or  of  the  superior  court. 

A  plurality  of  offices  being  then  allowed,  Sherman  Vv^as 
sent  to  the  first  congress  in  1774,  and  to  every  other  congress 
to  the  last  hour  of  his  life,  except  when  excluded  by  the  funda- 
mental law  of  rotation.     In  congress  he  served  on  most  of  the 


1787.  THE   CONNECTICUT   COMPKOMISE.  2^1 

important  committees,  the  board  of  war,  the  board  of  the  ma- 
rine, the  board  of  finance.  He  signed  the  declaration  of  1774, 
which  some  writers  regard  as  the  date  of  our  nationality ;  was 
of  the  committee  to  write,  and  was  a  signer  of  the  declaration 
of  independence ;  was  of  the  committee  to  frame  the  articles 
of  the  confederation,  and  a  signer  of  that  instniment.  No  one 
is  known  to  have  complained  of  his  filling  too  many  offices,  or 
to  have  found  fault  with  the  manner  in  which  he  filled  them. 
In  the  convention  he  never  made  long  speeches,  but  would 
intuitively  seize  on  the  turning-point  of  a  question,  and  pre- 
sent it  in  terse  language  which  showed  his  own  opinion  and 
the  strength  on  which  it  rested. 

By  the  side  of  Sherman  stood  William  Samuel  Johnson, 
then  sixty  years  of  age.  He  took  his  first  degree  at  Yale,  his 
second,  after  a  few  months'  further  study,  at  Harvard ;  became 
a  representative  in  the  Connecticut  assembly ;  was  a  delegate 
to  the  stamp-act  congress  of  1765,  and  assisted  in  writing  its 
address  to  the  king.  He  became  the  able  and  faithful  agent 
of  his  state  in  England,  where  Oxford  made  him  a  doctor  of 
civil  law.  After  his  return  in  1771,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
fourteen  assistants,  and  one  of  the  judges  of  the  superior  court. 
He  was  sent  by  Connecticut  on  a  peace  mission  to  Gage  at 
Boston;  but  from  the  war  for  independence  he  kept  aloof. 
His  state,  nevertheless,  appointed  him  its  leading  counsel  in  its 
territorial  disputes  with  Pennsylvania.  A  delegate  to  the  fifth 
congress  and  the  sixth,  he  acted  in  1786  on  a  grand  committee 
and  its  sub-committee  for  reforming  the  federal  government. 
He  had  just  been  unanimously  chosen  president  of  Columbia 
college.  His  calm  and  conservative  character  made  him  tardy 
in  coming  up  to  a  new  position,  so  that  he  had  even  opposed 
the  call  of  the  federal  convention.*  He  was  of  good-humor, 
composedness,  and  candor,  and  he  knew  how  to  conciliate  and 
to  convince. 

The  third  member  of  the  Connecticut  delegation  was 
Oliver  Ellsworth,  whom  we  have  seen  on  the  committee  of 
1781  for  amending  the  constitution,  and  on  the  committee  of 
1783  for  addressing  the  states  in  behaK  of  further  reforms.  A 
native  of  Connecticut,  he  ^vas  at  Yale  for  two  years,  and  in 

*  Gale  to  Johnson,  19  Apiil  1787  ;  Gilpin,  5S9  ;  Elliot,  96. 
VOL.   VI. — 16 


242  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  ni. ;  en.  iii. 

1766,  after  two  years  more  of  study,  graduated  in  the  college 
of  JSTew  Jersey,  where  Luther  Martin  was  his  classmate.  Of  a 
robust  habit  of  mind,  he  was  full  of  energy  and  by  nature 
hopeful ;  devoid  of  sentimentality  and  safe  against  the  seduc- 
tions of  feeling  or  the  delusions  of  imagination,  he  was  always 
self-possessed.  Free  from  rancor  and  superior  to  flattery,  he 
could  neither  be  intimidated  nor  cajoled.  His  mind  advanced 
cautiously,  but  with  great  moving  force.  Knowing  what  he 
needed,  he  could  not  be  turned  from  its  pursuit ;  obtaining  it, 
he  never  wrangled  for  more.  He  had  been  the  attorney  of  his 
own  state,  a  member  of  its  assembly,  one  of  its  delegates  in  con- 
gress, a  colleague  of  Sherman  in  its  superior  court ;  and  now, 
at  the  age  of  two-and-forty,  rich  in  experience,  he  becomes 
one  of  the  chief  workmen  in  framing  the  federal  constitution. 

By  Paterson,  in  his  notes  for  a  'New  Jersey  plan,  the  pro- 
posed new  government  was  named  ^'  the  federal  government  of 
the  United  States ; "  by  Dickinson,  in  his  resolution,  "  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States."  In  the  Virginia  plan  it  was 
described  as  "national"  nineteen  times,  and  in  the  report  from 
the  convention  in  committee  of  the  whole  to  the  house,  twenty- 
six  times.  Ellsworth,  who  then  and  ever  after  did  not  scruple 
to  use  the  word  "  national,"  moved  to  substitute  in  the  amended 
Yirginia  plan  the  phrase  of  Dickinson  as  the  proper  title.* 
To  avoid  alarm,  the  friends  to  the  national  plan  unhesitatingly 
accepted  the  colorless  change.f  Lansing  then  moved  "  that 
the  powers  of  legislation  ought  to  be  vested  in  the  United 
States  in  congress."  He  dwelt  again  on  the  want  of  power  in 
the  convention,  the  probable  disapprobation  of  their  constitu- 
ents, the  consequent  dissolution  of  the  union,  the  inability  of 
a  general  government  to  pervade  the  whole  continent,  the  dan- 
ger of  complicating  the  British  model  of  government  with 
state  governments  on  principles  which  would  gradually  destroy 
the  one  or  the  other. 

"**  Mason  protested  against  a  renewed  agitation  of  the  question 
between  the  two  plans,  and  against  the  objection  of  a  want  of 
ample  powers  in  the  convention;  with  impassioned  wisdom, 
he  continued : 

"  On  two  points  the  American  mind  is  well  settled :  an  at- 

*  Gilpin,  90S,  909 ;  Elliot,  214.  f  Martin  in  Elliot,  i.,  3G2. 


1787.  THE   CONNECTICUT  COMPROMISE.  243 

tachmeiit  to  republican  government,  and  an  attacliment  to  more 
than  one  branch  in  the  legislature.  The  general  accord  of 
their  constitutions  in  both  these  circumstances  must  either  have 
been  a  miracle,  or  must  have  resulted  from  the  genius  of  the 
people.  Congress  is  the  only  single  legislature  not  chosen  by 
the  people  themselves,  and  in  consequence  they  have  been  con- 
stantly averse  to  giving  it  further  powers.  They  never  will, 
they  never  can,  intrust  their  dearest  rights  and  liberties  to  one 
body  of  men  not  chosen  by  them,  and  yet  invested  with  the 
sword  and  the  purse  ;  a  conclave,  transacting  their  business  in 
secret  and  guided  in  many  of  their  acts  by  factions  and  party 
spirit.  It  is  acknowledged  by  the  author  of  the  l^^ew  Jersey 
plan  that  it  cannot  be  enforced  without  military  coercion.  The 
most  jarring  elements  of  nature,  fire  and  water,  are  not  more 
incompatible  than  such  a  mixture  of  civil  liberty  and  military 
execution. 

"  E'ot  with  standing  my  solicitude  to  establish  a  national  gov- 
ernment, I  never  will  agree  to  abolish  the  state  governments, 
or  render  them  absolutely  insignificant.  They  are  as  necessary 
as  the  general  government,  and  I  shall  be  equally  careful  to 
preserve  them.  I  am  aware  of  the  difiiculty  of  drawing  the 
line  between  the  two,  but  hope  it  is  not  insurmountable. 
That  the  one  government  will  be  productive  of  disputes  and  jeal- 
ousies against  the  other,  I  believe ;  but  it  wdll  produce  mutual 
safety.  The  convention  cannot  make  a  faultless  government ; 
but  I  will  trust  posterity  to  mend  its  defects."  * 

The  day  ended  in  a  definitive  refusal  to  take  up  the  propo- 
sition of  Lansing;  the  six  national  states  standing  together 
against  the  three  federal  ones  and  Connecticut,  Maryland  being 
divided.  The  four  southernmost  states  aimed  at  no  selfish  ad- 
vantages, when  in  this  hour  of  extreme  danger  they  came  to 
the  rescue  of  the  union.  Moreover,  the  people  of  Maryland 
were  by  a  large  majority  on  the  side  of  the  national  states,  and 
the  votes  of  Connecticut  and  Delaware  were  given  only  to  pave 
the  way  to  an  equal  vote  in  the  senate. 

Weary  of  supporting  the  E'ev/  Jersey  plan,  Sherman  f 
pleaded  for  tv/o  houses  of  the  national  legislature  and  an  equal 

*  Gilpin,  912-915  ;  Elliot,  216,  217  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  428,  429. 
f  Gilpin,  918;  Elliot,  219. 


244  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  iii. ;  oh.  m. 

vote  of  tlie  states  in  one  of  tliem.  On  the  next  morning  John- 
son *  took  up  the  theme.  Avoiding  every  appearance  of  dic- 
tation, he  invited  the  convention  to  harmonize  the  individnaht  j 
of  the  states  as  proposed  by  New  Jersey  with  the  general  sov- 
ereignty and  jurisdiction  of  the  Virginia  plan.  He  wished  it 
to  be  well  considered,  whether  the  portion  of  sovereignty  which 
was  to  remain  with  the  states  could  be  preserved  without  allow- 
ing them  in  the  second  branch  of  the  national  legislature  a  dis- 
tinct and  equal  vote. 

The  six  national  states,  re-enforced  by  Connecticut,  then 
resolved  f  that  the  general  legislature  should  consist  of  two 
branches.  Upon  this  decision,  which  was  carried  by  more  than 
two  states  to  one,  the  ISTew  Jersey  plan  fell  hopelessly  to  the 
ground. 

It  was  on  the  twenty-fifth,  in  the  course  of  these  debates, 
that  Wilson  said :  "  "VThen  I  consider  the  amazing  extent  of 
country,  the  immense  population  which  is  to  fill  it,  the  influ- 
ence which  the  government  we  are  to  form  will  have,  not  only 
on  the  present  generation  of  our  people  and  their  multiplied 
posterity,  but  on  the  whole  globe,  I  am  lost  in  the  magnitude 
of  the  object.  J  "We  are  laying  the  foundation  of  a  building 
in  which  millions  are  interested,  and  which  is  to  last  for  ages.* 
In  laying  one  stone  amiss  we  may  injure  the  superstructure ; 
and  what  will  be  the  consequence  if  the  comer-stone  should  be 
loosely  placed  ?  A  citizen  of  America  is  a  citizen  of  the  gen- 
eral government,  and  is  a  citizen  of  the  particular  state  in  which 
he  may  reside.  1  The  general  government  is  meant  for  them 
in  the  first  capacity;  the  state  governments  in  the  second. 
Both  governments  are  derived  from  the  people,  both  meant 
for  the  people ;  both,  therefore,  ought  to  be  regulated  on  the 
same  principles.'*'  In  forming  the  general  government  we 
must  forget  our  local  habits  and  attachments,  lay  aside  our 
state  connections,  and  act  for  the  general  good  of  the  whole.  () 
The  general  government  is  not  an  assemblage  of  states,  but  of 

*  Gilpin,  920  ;  Elliot,  220  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  431. 
t  Gilpin,  925  ;  Elliot,  223  ;  i.,  184  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  432. 
i  Gilpin,  956 ;  Elliot,  289.  »  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  446. 

II  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  445,  446.  ^  Gilpin,  956  ;  Elliot,  239. 

^  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  446. 


1787.  THE  CONNECTICUT  COMPPwOMISE.  245 

individuals,  for  certain  political  purposes ;  it  is  not  meant  for 
the  states,  but  for  the  individuals  composing  them ;  the  indi- 
viduals, therefore,  not  the  states,  ought  to  be  represented  in 
it."  *  He  persisted  to  the  last  in  demanding  that  the  senate 
should  be  elected  bj  electors  chosen  by  the  people. 

Ellsworth  replied :  "  Whether  the  member  of  the  senate 
be  appointed  by  the  people  or  by  the  legislature,  he  will  be  a 
citizen  of  the  state  he  is  to  represent.  Every  state  has  its  par- 
ticular views  and  prejudices,  which  will  find  their  way  into  the 
general  council,  through  whatever  channel  they  may  flow,  f 
The  state  legislatures  are  more  competent  to  make  a  judicious 
choice  than  the  people  at  large.  Without  the  existence  and 
co-operation  of  the  states,  a  repubhcan  government  cannot  be 
supported  over  so  great  an  extent  of  country.  We  know  that 
the  people  of  the  states  are  strongly  attached  to  their  own  con- 
stitutions. If  you  hold  up  a  system  of  general  government, 
destructive  of  their  constitutional  rights,  they  will  oppose  it. 
The  only  chance  we  have  to  support  a  general  government  is 
to  graft  it  on  the  state  governments."  :j: 

That  the  members  of  the  second  branch  should  be  chosen 
by  the  individual  legislatures,  which  in  the  committee  had  been 
unanimously  accepted,  was  then  affirmed  in  convention  by  all 
the  states  except  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  which  looked 
upon  this  mode  of  choice  as  the  stepping-stone  to  an  equal 
representation.* 

For  the  term  of  office  of  the  senators,  who,  as  all  agreed, 
were  to  go  out  in  classes,  Eandolph  proposed  seven  years ; 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  four;  Gorham  and  Wilson,  six  with 
biennial  rotation.  Read  desired  the  tenure  of  good  behavior, 
but,  hardly  finding  a  second,  ||  moved  for  a  term  of  nine  years 
as  the  longest  which  had  a  chance  for  support. 

Madison  came  to  his  aid.  "  The  second  branch,  as  a  lim- 
ited number  of  citizens,  respectable  for  wisdom  and  virtue, 
will  be  watched  by  and  will  keep  watch  over  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people ;  it  will  seasonably  interpose  between  im- 
petuous counsels ;  and  will  guard  the  minority  who  are  placed 

*  Gilpin,  957  ;  Elliot,  2S9.  f  Ibid.  1;.  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  44G,  447. 

*  Gilpin,  959;  Elliot,  240;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  447. 

ji  Con:ipare  Gilpin,  960,  or  Elliot,  241,  with  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  448. 


246  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  en.  iii. 

above  indigence  against  the  agrarian  attempts  of  the  ever- 
increasing  class  who  labor  nnder  all  the  hardships  of  life,  and 
secretly  sigh  for  a  more  equal  distribution  of  its  blessings.  The 
longer  the  members  of  the  senate  continue  in  office,  the  better 
will  these  objects  be  answered.  The  term  of  nine  years  can 
threaten  no  real  danger."  ^ 

Sherman  replied  :  "  The  more  permanency  a  government 
has,  the  worse,  if  it  be  a  bad  one.  I  shall  be  content  with  six 
years  for  the  senate  :  but  four  will  be  quite  sufficient."  f 

"  We  are  now  to  decide  the  fate  of  republican  government," 
said  Hamilton ;  "  if  we  do  not  give  to  that  form  due  stability, 
it  will  be  disgraced  and  lost  among  ourselves,  disgraced  and  lost 
to  mankind  forever.  :j:  I  acknowledge  I  do  not  think  favor- 
ably of  republican  government ;  but  I  address  my  remarks  to 
those  who  do,  in  order  to  prevail  on  them  to  tone  their  gov- 
ernment as  high  as  possible.  I  profess  myself  as  zealous  an 
advocate  for  liberty  as  any  man  whatever ;  and  trust  I  shall  be 
as  willing  a  martyr  to  it,  though  I  differ  as  to  the  form  in 
which  it  is  most  eligible.  Eeal  liberty  is  neither  found  in 
despotism  nor  in  the  extremes  of  democracy,  but  in  moderate 
governments.*  Those  who  mean  to  form  a  solid  republic 
ought  to  proceed  to  the  confines  of  another  government.  If 
we  incline  too  much  to  democracy,  we  shall  soon  shoot  into  a 
monarchy."  The  term  of  nine  years  received  only  the  votes  of 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Virginia ;  and  that  for  six  years, 
with  the  biennial  renewal  of  one  third  of  its  members,  was 
carried  by  the  voice  of  seven  states  against  four.  || 

On  the  twenty-seventh,  Rutledge  brought  the  convention 
to  consider  the  rule  of  suffrage  in  the  two  branches  of  the 
national  legislature.  For  the  rest  of  the  day,  and  part  of  the 
next,  Martin  vehemently  denounced  any  general  government 
that  could  reach  individuals,  and  intimated  plainly  that  Clin- 
ton of  New  York  would  surely  prevent  its  adoption  in  that 
state.  Lansing  renewed  the  proposal  to  vote  by  states  in  the 
first  branch  of  the  legislature.     Madison  summed  up  a  most 

*  Gilpin,  934  ;  Elliot,  242,  242  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  450. 
f  Gilpin,  965  ;  Elliot,  243  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  450. 
i  Gilpin,  985,  966  ;  Elliot,  244.         «  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  450. 
II  Gilpin,  969  ;  Elliot,  245  ;  i.,  451. 


1787.  THE  CONNECTICUT  COMPROMISE.  247 

elaborate  statement  bj  saying :  "  Tlie  two  extremes  before  lis 
are,  a  perfect  separation,  and  a  perfect  incorporation  of  the 
thirteen  states.  In  the  first  case,  thej  will  be  independent 
nations,  subject  only  to  the  law  of  nations ;  in  the  last,  they 
will  be  mere  counties  of  one  entire  republic,  subject  to  one 
common  law.  In  the  first,  the  smaller  states  will  have  every- 
thing to  fear  from  the  larger ;  in  the  last,  nothing.  Their  true 
policy,  therefore,  hes  in  promoting  that  form  of  government 
which  will  most  approximate  the  states  to  the  condition  of 
counties."  *  Johnson  and  Sherman  and  Ellsworth,  Paterson 
and  Dickinson,  even  at  the  risk  of  union,  opposed  King,  the 
most  eloquent  orator,  "VYilson,  the  most  learned  civilian,  and 
Madison,  the  most  careful  statesman,  of  the  convention.  It 
was  in  vain  for  the  smaller  states  to  say  they  intended  no 
injustice,  and  equally  in  vain  for  Madison  to  plead  that  the 
large  states,  from  differing  customs,  religion,  and  interests, 
could  never  unite  in  perilous  combinations.  In  the  great  diver- 
sity of  sentiment,  Johnson  could  not  foresee  the  result  of  their 
deliberations ;  f  and  at  a  later  day  Martin  reported  that  the 
convention  was  "  on  the  verge  of  dissolution,  scarce  held  to- 
gether by  the  strength  of  a  hair."  J 

To  restore  calm,  Franklin,  just  as  the  house  was  about  to 
adjourn,  proposed  that  the  convention  should  be  opened  every 
morning  by  prayer.  Having  present  in  his  mind  his  own  mar- 
vellous career  from  the  mocking  skepticism  of  his  boyhood,  he 
said :  "  The  longer  I  live,  the  more  convincing  proofs  I  see 
that  God  governs  in  the  affairs  of  men.  I  firmly  believe  that 
*  except  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build 
it.'  Without  his  concurring  aid,  we  shall  be  divided  by  our 
little  local  interests,  succeed  no  better  than  the  builders  of 
Babel,  and  become  a  reproach  and  by-word  to  future  ages. 
"What  is  worse,  mankind  may  hereafter,  from  this  unfortunate 
instance,  despair  of  establishing  government  by  human  wis- 
dom, and  leave  it  to  chance  and  war."  *  The  motion  was 
avoided  by  adjournment. 

The  concurring  aid  which   Franklin  invoked  implied  a 

*  Gilpin,  982  ;  Elliot,  252. 

f  William  Samuel  Johnson  to  his  son,  Philadelphia,  27  June  l^ST. 

i  Elliot,  i.,  358.  *  Gilpin,  985  ;  Elliot,  253,  254. 


218  THE   FEDEKAL  CONVENTIOJ^.  b.  hi.  ;  en.  m. 

purification  from  the  dominion  of  selfish,  interests.  In  the 
next  meeting  the  members  were  less  absorbed  by  inferior 
motives.*  The  debate  was  opened  by  Johnson.  "  A  state," 
he  said,  "  exists  as  a  political  society,  and  it  exists  as  a  district 
of  individual  citizens.  The  aristocratic  and  other  interests, 
and  the  interests  of  the  states,  must  be  armed  with  some 
power  of  self-defence.  In  one  branch  of  the  general  govern- 
ment the  people  ought  to  be  represented;  in  the  other,  the 
states."  t  Gorham  brought  together  arguments  for  union 
alike  from  the  point  of  view  of  small  and  of  large  states; 
and  his  last  word  was :  "  A  union  of  the  states  is  necessary  to 
their  happiness,  and  a  firm  general  government  is  necessary 
to  their  union.  I  will  stay  here  as  long  as  any  state  will  re- 
main, in  order  to  agree  on  some  plan  that  can  be  recommended 
to  the  people."  J 

"  I  do  not  despair,"  said  Ellsworth ;  "  I  stiU  trust  that  some 
good  plan  of  government  will  be  devised  and  adopted." 

"If  this  point  of  representation  is  once  well  fixed,"  said 
Madison,  "we  shall  come  nearer  to  one  another  in  sentiment.* 
The  necessity  will  then  be  discovered  of  circumscribing  more 
effectually  the  state  governments,  and  enlarging  the  bounds  of 
the  general  government.  There  is  a  gradation  from  the  small- 
est corporation  with  the  most  limited  powers  to  the  largest 
empire  with  the  most  perfect  sovereignty.  ||  The  states  never 
possessed  the  essential  rights  of  sovereignty;  these  were  al- 
ways vested  in  congress.  Voting  as  states  in  congress  is  no 
evidence  of  sovereignty.  The  state  of  Maryland  voted  by 
counties.  Did  this  make  the  counties  sovereign  ?  The  states, 
at  present,  are  only  great  corporations,  having  the  power  of 
making  by-laws  not  contradictory  to  the  general  confedera- 
tion.^ The  proposed  government  will  have  powers  far  be- 
yond those  exercised  by  the  British  parliament  when  the 
states  were  part  of  the  British  empire. 

"  The  mixed  nature  of  the  government  ought  to  be  kept 
in  view ;  but  the  exercise  of  an  equal  voice  by  unequal  por- 
tions of  the  people  is  confessedly  unjust,  and  would  infuse 

^''  Compare  Walter  Scott  in  Tho  Heart  of  Midlothian,  vol.  i.,  chap.  xiv. 


f  Gilpin,  937  ;  Elliot,  255. 

X  Gilpin,  989  ;  Elliot,  255. 

#  Elliot,  i.,  4G1.        1!  Gilpin,  990 ;  Elliot,  25G. 

^  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  4S1. 

\ 

1787.  THE  CONNECTICUT  COMPROMISE.  249 

mortality  into  the  constitution  whicli  we  wish  to  last  for- 
ever. A  total  sej)aration  of  the  states  from  each  other  or 
partial  confederacies  would  alike  be  truly  deplorable;  and 
those  who  may  be  accessory  to  either  can  never  be  forgiven 
by  their  country,  nor  by  themselves."  * 

"  In  all  the  states,"  said  Hamilton,  "  the  rights  of  individu- 
als with  regard  to  suffrage  are  modified  by  qualifications  of 
property.  In  like  manner  states  may  modify  their  right  of 
su&age,  the  larger  exercising  a  larger,  the  smaller  a  smaller 
share  of  it.  Will  the  people  of  Delaware  be  less  free  if  each 
citizen  has  an  equal  vote  with  each  citizen  of  Pennsylvania  ? 
The  contest  is  for  power,  not  for  liberty. 

"  No  government  can  give  us  happiness  at  home  which  has 
not  the  strength  to  make  us  respectable  abroad.  This  is  the 
critical  moment  for  forming  such  a  government.  As  yet  we 
retain  the  habits  of  union.  We  are  weak,  and  sensible  of  our 
weakness.  Our  people  are  disposed  to  have  a  good  govern- 
ment ;t  but  henceforward  the  motives  will  become  feebler 
and  the  difficulties  greater.  It  is  a  miracle  that  we  are  now 
here,  exercising  free  deliberation;  it  would  be  madness  to 
trust  to  future  miracles.:]:  Yv^e  must  therefore  improve  the 
opportunity,  and  render  the  present  system  as  perfect  as  pos- 
sible. The  good  sense  of  the  people,  and,  above  all,  the  ne- 
cessity of  their  affairs,  will  induce  them  to  adopt  it."  * 

It  was  then  decided,  by  the  six  national  states  to  four, 
Maryland  being  divided,  that  the  rule  of  suffrage  in  the  first 
branch  ought  to  bear  proportion  to  the  population  of  the 
several  states.  A  reversal  of  this  decision  was  never  at- 
tempted. 

Ellsworth  now  put  forth  all  his  strength  as  he  moved  that 
in  the  second  branch  the  vote  should  be  taken  by  states :  |  "I 
confess  that  the  effect  of  this  motion  is  to  make  the  general 
government  partly  federal  and  partly  national.  I  am  not  sorry 
that  the  vote  just  passed  has  determined  against  this  rule  in 
the  first  branch;  I  hope  it  will  become  a  ground  of  com- 
promise with  regard  to  the  second.     On  this  middle  ground, 

"  Gilpin,  990,  992 ;  Elliot,  256,  257 ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  462. 

f  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  463.  X  Gilpin,  995  ;  Elliot,  259. 

#  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  464.  j|  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  464. 


250  THE  FEDERAL  CONYENTIOK  b.  iii. ;  oh.  iii. 

and  on  no  other,  can  a  compromise  take  place.*  If  the  great 
states  refuse  this  plan,  we  shall  be  forever  separated. 

"  In  the  hour  of  common  danger  we  united  as  equals ;  is 
it  just  to  depart  from  this  principle  now,  when  the  danger  is 
over  ?  f  The  existing  confederation  is  founded  on  the  equalit}^ 
of  the  states  in  the  article  of  suffrage,  :j:  and  is  declared  to  be 
perpetual.*  Is  it  meant  to  pay  no  regard  to  this  plighted 
faith  ?  II  "We  then  associated  as  free  and  independent  states. 
To  perpetuate  that  independence,  I  wish  to  establish  a  national 
legislature,  executive,  and  judiciary ;  for  under  these  we  shall 
preserve  peace  and  harmony."  ^ 

Abraham  Baldwin,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  a  graduate  of 
Yale  college,  for  four  years  one  of  its  tutors,  a  recent  emigrant 
to  Georgia,  from  which  state  he  was  now  a  deputy,  stepped 
forth  to  the  relief  of  Ellsworth,  saying :  "  The  second  branch 
ought  to  be  the  representation  of  property,^  and  ought  not  to 
be  elected  as  the  first."  J 

''  If  a  minority  will  have  their  own  will,  or  separate  the 
union,"  said  Wilson,  on  the  thirtieth,  "  let  it  be  done.  I  can- 
not consent  that  one  fourth  shall  control  the  power  of  three 
fourths.  The  Connecticut  proposal  removes  only  a  part  of 
the  objection.  We  all  aim  at  giving  the  general  government 
more  energy.  The  state  governments  are  necessary  and  valu- 
able. Ko  liberty  can  be  obtained  without  them.  On  this 
question  of  the  manner  of  taking  the  vote  in  the  second 
branch  depend  the  essential  rights  of  the  general  govern- 
ment and  of  the  people."  $ 

Ellsworth  replied  :  "  No  salutary  measure  has  been  lost  for 
want  of  a  majority  of  the  states  to  favor  it.  J  If  the  larger 
states  seek  security,  they  have  it  fully  in  the  first  branch 
of  the  general  government.  Eut  are  the  lesser  states  equally 
secure?  We  are  razing  the  foundation  of  the  building, 
when  we  need  only  repair  the  roof.**  And  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  these  remarks  are  not  the  result  of  partial  or  locSl 

*  Gilpin,  998,  921 ;  Elliot,  200.  ^  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  465. 

f  Elliot,  i.,  464,  465.  0  Gilpin,  998 ;  Elliot,  260. 

i  Gilpin,  998 ;  Elliot,  200.  ^1;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  465. 

*  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.  ,465.  i  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  466,  467. 
II  Gilpin,  998 ;  Elliot,  260.  i  Gilpin,  1003  ;  Elliot,  263. 
**  Gilpin,  1003  ;  Elliot,  263  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  !.,  468. 


178T.  THE  CONNECTICUT  COMPEOMISE.  251 

views.  In  importance,  tlie  state  I  represent  liolds  a  middle 
rank."  * 

"  If  there  was  real  danger  to  the  smaller  states,"  said  Madi- 
son, ^^I  would  give  them  defensive  v/eapons.  But  there  is 
none.  The  great  danger  to  our  general  government  is,  that 
the  southern  and  northern  interests  of  the  continent  are  op- 
posed to  each  other,  f  not  from  their  difference  of  size,  but 
from  climate,  and  principally  from  the  effects  of  their  having 
or  not  having  slaves,  if  Look  to  the  votes  in  congress ;  most 
of  them  stand  divided  by  the  geography  of  the  country,  not  by 
the  size  of  the  states.*  Defensive  power  ought  to  be  given, 
not  between  the  large  and  small  states,  but  between  the  north- 
em  and  southern.  Casting  about  in  my  mind  for  some  expe- 
dient that  will  answer  this  purpose,  it  has  occurred  that  the 
states  should  be  represented  in  one  branch  according  to  the 
number  of  free  inhabitants  only ;  and  in  the  other  according  to 
the  whole  number,  counting  the  slaves  as  free.  The  southern 
scale  would  have  the  advantage  in  one  house,  and  the  northern 
in  another."  \\  By  this  willingness  to  recede  from  the  strict 
claim  to  representation  in  proportion  to  population  for  the 
sake  of  protecting  slavery,  Madison  stepped  from  firm  ground. 
The  argument  of  Ellsworth  drawn  from  the  faith  plighted  to 
the  smaller  states  in  the  existing  federal  compact,  he  answered 
only  by  taunts :  "  The  party  claiming  from  others  an  adhe- 
rence to  a  common  engagement  ought  at  least  to  be  itself  guilt- 
less of  its  violation.  Of  all  the  states,  Connecticut  is  perhaps 
least  able  to  urge  this  plea."  ^ 

Fixing  his  eyes  on  "Washington,  Ellsworth  rejoined :  "  To 
you  I  can  with  confidence  appeal  for  the  great  exertions  of  my 
state  during  the  w^ar  in  supplying  both  men  and  money.  (} 
The  muster  rolls  will  show  that  she  had  more  troops  in  the 
field  than  even  the  state  of  Virginia.  J  We  strained  every 
nerve  to  raise  them ;  and  we  spared  neither  money  nor  exer- 
tions to  complete  our  quotas.     This  extraordinary  exertion  has 

*  Gilpin,  1001 ;  Elliot,  264. 

f  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  405,  483.  :j:  Gilpin,  1006  ;  Elliot,  2G1-. 

*  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  466.     The  date  in  Madison  is  30  June. 

II  Gilpin,  1006  ;  Elliot,  264,  265.  a  Gilpin,  1005  ;  Elliot,  254. 

0  Gilpin,  1007  ;  Elliot,  265.  J  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  469. 


252  THE  FEDERAL  CONYENTIOK         b.  hi.  ;  on.  iii. 

greatly  impoverished  us,  and  lias  accumulated  our  state  debts ; 
but  we  defy  any  gentleman  to  show  that  we  ever  refused  a 
federal  requisition.  If  she  has  proved  delinquent  through  ina- 
bility only,  it  is  not  more  than  others  have  been  without  the 
same  excuse.  It  is  the  ardent  wish  of  the  state  to  strengthen 
the  federal  government."  ''^ 

Davie  of  JN'orth  Carolina,  breaking  the  phalanx  of  national 
states,  preferred  the  proposition  of  Ellsworth  to  the  propor- 
tional representation,  Avhich  would  in  time  make  the  senate  a 
multitudinous  body.f     Connecticut  had  won  the  day. 

Startled  by  the  appearance  of  defeat,  Wilson  hastily  offered 
to  the  smallest  states  one  senator,  to  the  others  one  for  every 
hundred  thousand  souls.  This  expedient  Franklin  brushed  aside, 
saymg :  "  On  a  proportional  representation  the  small  states  con- 
tend that  their  liberties  will  be  in  danger ;  with  an  equality  of 
votes,  the  large  states  say  their  money  will  be  in  danger.  A  join- 
er, when  he  wants  to  fit  two  boards,  takes  a  little  from  both."  J 
And  he  suggested  for  the  several  states  a  Hke  number  of  dele- 
gates to  the  senate,  with  proportionate  votes  on  financial  sub- 
jects, equal  votes  on  questions  affecting  the  rights  of  the  states. 

King  inveighed  against  the  "  phantom  of  state  sovereign- 
ty : "  "  If  the  adherence  to  an  equality  of  votes  is  unalterable, 
we  are  cut  asunder  already.  My  mind  is  prepared  for  every 
event,  rather  than  to  sit  down  under  a  government  which 
must  be  as  short-lived  as  it  would  be  unjust."  * 

Dayton  replied  :  "  Assertion  for  proof  and  terror  for  argu- 
ment, however  eloquently  spoken,  will  have  no  effect.  It 
should  have  been  shown  that  the  evils  we  have  experienced 
proceeded  from  the  equality  of  representation." 

"The  plan  in  its  present  shape,"  said  Madison,  "makes 
the  senate  absolutely  dependent  on  the  states ;  it  is,  therefore, 
only  another  edition  of  the  old  confederation,  and  can  never 
answer.  Still  I  would  preserve  the  state  rights  as  carefully  as 
the  trial  by  jury."  \\ 

*  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  4C9,  4-70. 

f  Gilpin,  1007 ;  Elliot  265,  2G6  ;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  470 ;  Paterson  MS. 

t  Gilpin,  1009;  Elliot,  266;  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  471. 

*=  Gilpin,  1010,  1011  ;  Elliot,  266,  267. 

J!  Gilpin,  1012 ;  Elliot,  267  ;  Yates  in  ElUot,  i.,  471. 


irsr.  THE  CONNECTICUT  COMPROMISE.  253 

Bedford  scoffed  at  Georgia,  proud  of  her  future  greatness ; 
at  South  Carolina,  puffed  up  with  wealth  and  negroes ;  at  the 
great  states,  ambitious,  dictatorial,  and  unworthy  of  trust ;  and 
defied  them  to  dissolve  the  confederation,  for  ruin  would  then 
stare  them  in  the  face.* 

To  a  question  from  King,  whether  by  entering  into  a  na- 
tional government  he  would  not  equally  participate  in  national 
security,  Ellsworth  answered  :  "  I  confess  I  should ;  but  a  gen- 
eral government  cannot  know  my  wants,  nor  relieve  my  dis- 
tress. I  depend  for  domestic  happiness  as  much  on  my  state 
government  as  a  new-bom  infant  depends  upon  its  mother  for 
nourishment.  If  this  is  not  an  answer,  I  have  no  other  to 
give."  t 

On  the  second  of  July  live  states  voted  with  Ellsworth  for 
equal  suffrage  in  the  senate  ;  five  of  the  six  national  states  an- 
swered, ISTo.  All  interest  then  centred  upon  Georgia,  the  sixth 
national  state  and  the  last  to  vote.  Baldwin,  fearing  a  disrup- 
tion of  the  convention,  and  convinced  of  the  hopelessness  of 
assembling  another  under  better  auspices,  dissented  from  his 
colleague,  and  divided  the  vote  of  his  state.  So  the  motion 
was  lost  by  a  tie ;  J  but  as  all  believed  that  New  Hampshire 
and  Rhode  Island,  had  they  been  present,  would  have  voted 
with  Connecticut,  the  convention  moved  rapidly  toward  its 
inevitable  decision. 

For  a  moment  Charles  Pinckney  made  delay  by  calling  up 
his  scheme  for  dividing  the  United  States  into  northern,  mid- 
dle, and  southern  groups,  and  apportioning  the  senators  be- 
tween the  three ;  *  a  measure  which,  with  modifications,  he  re- 
peatedly brought  forward. 

Cotesworth  Pinckney  liked  better  the  motion  of  Franklin, 
and  proposed  that  a  committee  of  one  from  each  state,  taking 
into  consideration  both  branches  of  the  legislature,  should  devise 
and  report  a  compromise.  ||  "  Such  a  committee,"  said  Sher- 
man, "  is  necessary  to  set  us  right."  '^ 

Gouvemeur  Morris,  who,  after  a  month's  absence,  had  just 
returned,  spoke  abruptly  for  a  senate  for  life  to  be  appointed 

*  Gilpin,  1012-1014  ;  Elliot,  2G8.  «  Gilpin,  lOlY;  Elliot,  270. 

f  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  473,  474.  i  Ibid. 

i  Gilpin,  lOlG ;  Elliot,  259,  270.  ^  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  475. 


254  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  hi. 

by  the  executive ;  *  but  the  committee  was  ordered  by  a  great 
majority ;  and  the  bouse  showed  its  own  inclination  by  select- 
ing Franklin,  Gerry,  Ellsworth,  Yates,  Paters  on,  even  Bedford 
and  Martin,  Mason,  Davie,  Rutledge,  and  Baldwin.  To  give 
them  time  for  their  task,  and  to  all  the  opportunity  of  cele- 
brating the  anniversary  of  independence,  the  convention  ad- 
journed for  three  days,  f 

*  Gilpin,  1019,  1020;  Elliot,  271,  272.  f  Gilpin,  1023,  1024  ;  Elliot,  273. 


1787.  THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  REPRESENTATION.  255 


CHAPTER  ly. 

THE   ADJUSTMENT   OF   EEPEESENTATION. 

Feom  THE  Third  to  the  Twenty-Thied  of  July  1787. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  of  Jnly  the  grand  committee 
accepted  as  a  basis  for  a  compromise  *  the  proposal  of  Frank- 
lin,f  that  in  the  first  branch  of  the  first  congress  there  should 
be  one  member  for  every  forty  thousand  inhabitants,  counting 
all  the  free  and  three  fifths  of  the  rest ;  that  in  the  second 
branch  each  state  should  have  an  equal  vote ;  and  that,  in  re- 
turn for  this  concession  to  the  small  states,  the  first  branch 
should  be  invested  with  the  sole  power  of  originating  taxes  and 
appropriations.  The  settlement  of  the  rule  of  representation 
for  new  states  was  considered,  but  was  left  to  the  convention. 

"  The  committee  have  exceeded  their  powers,"  ;{:  cried  Wil- 
son, when  Gerry,  on  the  fifth,  delivered  the  report  to  the  con- 
vention. Madison  encouraged  the  large  states  to  oppose  it 
steadfastly.  Butler  denounced  the  plan  as  unjust.*  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  delighting  to  startle  by  his  cynicism,  condemned 
alike  its  form  and  substance,  ||  adding :  "  State  attachments 
and  state  importance  have  been  the  bane  of  the  country.  "We 
cannot  annihilate  the  serjDents,  but  we  may  perhaps  take  out 
their  teeth.^  Suppose  the  larger  states  agree,  the  smaller 
states  must  come  in.  Jersey  would  follow  the  opinions  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania.  If  persuasion  does  not  unite  the  small 
states  with  the  others,  the  sword  will.     The  strongest  party 

*  Yates  in  Elliot,  i.,  4Y8.  #  Gilpin,  1028 ;  Elliot,  216. 

\  Martin  in  Elliot,  i.,  358.  I|  Gilpin,  1028 ;  Elliot,  276, 

X  Gilpin,  1025 ;  Elliot,  274.  ^  Gilpin,  1030;  Elliot,  277. 


256  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  iii. ;  ch.  iv. 

will  make  the  weaker  traitors,  and  hang  tliem.  The  larger 
states  are  the  most  powerful ;  they  must  decide."  *  Ellsworth 
enforced  the  necessity  of  compromise,  and  saw  none  more  con- 
venient or  reasonable  than  that  proposed  by  the  committee,  f 

"  We  are  neither  the  same  nation,  nor  different  nations," 
said  Gerry ;  "  we  therefore  ought  not  to  pursue  the  one  or  the 
other  of  these  ideas  too  closely.  "Without  a  compromise  a  se- 
cession will  take  place,  and  the  result  no  man  can  foresee." 
"There  must  be  some  accommodation  on  this  point,"  said 
Mason,  "  or  we  shall  make  little  further  progress  in  the  work. 
It  cannot  be  more  inconvenient  to  any  gentleman  to  remain 
absent  from  his  private  affairs  than  it  is  for  me ;  but  I  will  bury 
my  bones  in  this  city  rather  than  expose  my  country  to  the 
consequences  of  a  dissolution  of  the  convention  without  any- 
thing being  done."  J 

A  throng  of  questions  on  representation  thrust  themselves 
into  the  foreground.  Gouverneur  Morris  objected  to  the  rule 
of  numbers  alone  in  the  distribution  of  representatives.  "  ISTot 
liberty,"  said  he;  "property  is  the  main  object  of  society. 
The  savage  state  is  more  favorable  to  hberty  than  the  civilized, 
and  was  only  renounced  for  the  sake  of  property.  A  range  of 
new  states  will  soon  be  formed  in  the  West.  The  rule  of  rep- 
resentation ought  to  be  so  fixed  as  to  secure  to  the  Atlantic 
states  a  prevalence  in  the  national  councils."  Kutledge  re- 
peated :  "  Property  is  certainly  the  principal  object  of  society. 
If  numbers  should  be  the  rule  of  representation,  the  Atlantic 
states  will  soon  be  subjected  to  the  western."  "  If  new  states," 
said  Mason  and  Randolph,  "  make  a  part  of  the  union,  they 
ought  to  be  subject  to  no  unfavorable  discriminations."  * 

On  the  morning  of  the  sixth,  Gouverneur  Morris  moved  to 
refer  the  ratio  of  representation  in  the  popular  branch  to  a 
committee  of  five.  ||  Wilson,  who  still  strove  to  defeat  the 
compromise  between  the  federal  and  the  national  states,  sec- 
onded the  motion.  In  the  distribution  of  representatives, 
Gorham  thought  the  number  of  inhabitants  the  true  guide. 
"  Property,"  said  King,  "  is  the  primary  object  of  society,  and, 

*  Paterson  MSS.  -  Gilpin,  1034,  1035 ;  Elliot,  278,  219. 

f  Gilpin,  1032;  Elliot,  278.  |  Gilpin,  1036,  1039;  Elliot,  280,  231. 

i  Gilpin,  1032,  1033 ;  Elliot,  278. 


1787.  THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  EEPRESENTATION.  257 

in  fixing  a  ratio,  ought  not  to  be  excluded  from  tlie  estimate."  * 
"  Property,"  said  Butler,  "  is  the  only  just  measure  of  repre- 
sentation."t  To  Charles  Pinckney  the  number  of  inhabitants 
appeared  the  true  and  only  practicable  rule,  J  and  he  acquiesced 
in  counting  but  three  fifths  of  the  slaves.  The  motion  of  Morris 
was  carried  by  'New  England,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  four  south- 
ernmost slaveholding  states.  Gouvemeur  Morris,  Gorham, 
Randolph,  Rutledge,  and  King,  were  chosen  the  committee. 

On  the  seventh  the  clause  allowing  each  state  an  equal 
vote  in  the  senate  was  retained  as  part  of  the  report  by  six 
states  against  three,  New  York  being  present  and  voting  with 
the  majority,  Massachusetts  and  Georgia  being  divided. 

The  number  and  distribution  of  the  members  of  the  first 
branch  of  the  legislature  in  the  first  congress,  the  rule  for 
every  future  congress,  the  balance  of  legislative  power  between 
the  South  and  the  I^orth ;  between  the  carrying  states  which 
asked  for  a  retaliatory  navigation  act  and  the  planting  states 
which  desired  free  freight  and  free  trade ;  between  the  origi- 
nal states  and  new  ones ;  the  apportionment  of  representation 
according  to  numbers  or  wealth,  or  a  combination  of  the  two  ; 
the  counting  of  all,  or  three  fifths,  or  none,  of  the  slaves  ;  the 
equal  suffrage  in  the  senate — ^became  the  subjects  of  motions 
and  counter-motions,  postponements  and  recalls.  To  unravel 
the  tangled  skein  it  is  necessary  to  trace  each  subject  for  itself 
to  its  preliminary  settlement. 

On  the  ninth  Gouverneur  Morris  presented  the  report  of 
the  committee  of  five.  It  changed  the  distribution  of  repre- 
sentation in  the  first  congress  to  the  advantage  of  the  South  ; 
for  the  future,  no  one  opposing  except  Randolph,  it  author- 
ized, but  purposely  refrained  from  enjoining,  the  legislature, 
from  time  to  time,  to  regulate  the  number  of  representatives 
of  each  state  by  its  wealth  and  the  number  of  its  inhabitants.  * 

"The  report,"  said  Sherman,  "corresponds  neither  with 
any  rule  of  numbers,  nor  any  requisition  by  congress  ; "  ||  and 
on  his  motion  its  first  paragraph  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  one  member  from  each  state."^     Gouvemeur  Morris  sec- 

•^  Gilpin,  1037;  Elliot,  280.  «  Gilpin,  1051,  1052;  Elliot,  287,  2S8. 

f  Gilpin,  1038;  Elliot,  281.  ||  Gilpin,  1052;  Elliot,  288. 

X  Gilpin,  1039;  Elliot,  281.  ^Elliot,!.,  197. 

VOL.  VI. — 17 


258  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.    b.  iii. ;  en.  iv. 

onded  and  Eandolpli  approved  tlie  motion.*  Paterson  could 
regard  negro  slaves  in  no  light  but  as  property ;  to  grant  their 
masters  an  increase  of  representation  for  them  he  condemned 
as  an  indirect  encouragement  of  the  slave- trade,  f  Madison 
revived  his  suggestion  of  a  representation  of  free  inhabitants 
in  the  popular  branch  ;  of  the  whole  number,  including  slaves, 
in  the  senate;  which,  as  the  special  guardian  of  property, 
would  rightly  be  the  protector  of  property  in  slaves.  :j:  "  The 
southern  states  are  the  richest,"  said  King,  who  3^et  should 
have  known  that  they  were  not  so,  or  perhaps  was  thinking 
only  of  the  exports  of  the  country  ^  "  they  will  not  league 
themselves  with  the  northern  unless  some  respect  is  paid  to 
their  superior  wealth.  The  North  must  not  expect  to  receive 
from  the  connection  preferential  distinctions  in  commerce 
without  allowing  some  advantage  in  return."  * 

The  committee  of  one  from  each  state  on  the  very  next 
morning,  the  tenth  of  July,  produced  their  well-considered  re- 
port. The  committee  of  five  had  fixed  the  number  of  repre- 
sentatives at  fifty-six ;  or  thirty  from  the  l^orth,  twenty-six 
from  the  South ;  and  Maryland  and  Virginia  had  each  given 
up  one  member  to  South  Carolina,  raising  her  number  to  five.  || 

In  the  confederacy  each  state  might  send  to  congress  as 
many  as  seven  delegates,  so  that  the  whole  number  in  congress 
might  be  ninety-one.  This  number  was  adopted  for  the  new 
constitution  :  as  there  were  to  be  two  branches  of  the  legisla- 
ture, two  members  for  each  state  were  assigned  to  the  branch 
representing  the  states,  the  remainiiig  sixty-five  were  assigned 
to  the  popular  branch.  Thirty-five  were  parcelled  out  to  the 
E'orth,  to  the  South  thirty.  Of  the  new  members  for  the 
South,  two  were  allotted  to  Maryland,  one  to  Virginia,  and 
one  to  Georgia.  In  this  way  Connecticut,  l^orth  Carolina, 
and  South  Carolina,  having  each  -Q.vg  votes  in  the  popular 
branch,  retained  in  the  house  exactly  one  thirteenth  of  all  the 
votes  in  that  body,  and  so  would  hold  in  each  branch  exactly 
the  same  relative  power  as  in  the  confederacy.  The  first  cen- 
sus established  the  justice  of  this  relative  distribution  between 

*  Gilpin,  105  i;  Elliot,  288,  289.  +  Gilpin,  1055  ;  Elliot,  289,  290. 

f  Gilpin,  1055  ;  Elliot,  289.  #  Gilpin,  105G  ;  Elliot,  290. 

I  Gilpin,  10G2,  1063;  Elliot,  293;  Elliot,  i.,  197,  198. 


1787.  THE  ADJUSTMENT   OF  REPRESENTATION.  259 

the  JSTorth  and  the  South ;  though,  within  the  South,  Georgia 
and  South  Carohna  had  each  at  least  one  more  than  its  share. 

The  final  division  was  approved  by  all  except  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia ;  and  these  two  favored  states  now  opened  a 
resolute  but  not  stormy  debate  to  gain  still  more  legislative 
strength.  To  this  end  Eutledge  moved  to  reduce  the  absent 
state  of  I{ew  Hampshire  from  three  to  two  members,  pleading 
its  deficiency  in  population  and  its  poverty.* 

King,  after  demonstrating  the  rights  of  JSTew  HamjDshire, 
proceeded  :  "  The  difference  of  interests  lies  not  between  the 
great  and  small  states,  but  between  the  southern  and  eastern. 
For  this  reason  I  have  been  ready  to  yield  something  in  the 
proportion  of  representatives  for  the  security  of  the  southern. 
I  am  not  averse  to  yielding  more,  but  do  not  see  how  it  can  be 
done.  They  are  brought  as  near  an  equality  as  is  possible  ;  no 
principle  will  justify  giving  them  a  majority."  f  Cotes  worth 
Pinckney  replied :  "  If  the  southern  states  are  to  be  in  such  a 
minority,  and  the  regulation  of  trade  is  to  be  given  to  the  gen- 
eral government,  they  will  be  nothing  more  than  overseers  for 
the  northern  states.  I  do  not  expect  the  southern  states  to  be 
raised  to  a  majority  of  the  representatives ;  but  I  A\dsh  them 
to  have  something  like  an  equality."  Randolph,  speaking  the 
opinions  of  Kichard  Henry  Lee  and  of  Mason  as  well  as  his 
own,  announced  that  he  had  it  in  contemplation  to  require 
more  than  a  bare  majority  of  votes  for  laws  regulating  trade. 

For  reducing  'New  Hampshire  none  voted  but  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia.  ^  There  followed  successive  motions  to  give 
one  additional  vote  to  each  of  the  three  southernmost  states. 
They  were  all  lost ;  Georgia  alone  obtaining  the  voice  of  Vir- 
ginia. 

On  that  day  Eobert  Yates  and  John  Lansing  of  ISTew 
York  were  on  the  floor  for  the  last  time.  The  governor  of 
their  state  had  unreservedly  declared  that  no  good  was  to  be 
expected  from  the  deliberations  at  Philadelphia ;  that  the  con- 
federation on  more  full  experiment  might  be  found  to  answer 
all  the  purposes  of  the  union.''*  The  state  which  had  borne 
itself  with  unselfish  magnanimity  through  the  war  of  the  revo- 

*Gi]pi:5,  1057;  Elliot,  290.  'l  Gilpin,  1059;  Elliot,  291  ;  Elliot,  i.,  193. 

I  Gilpin,  1057,  1058;  Elliot,  290,  291.  *  Penn.  Packet,  2GJuly  1787. 


260  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.    b.  iii.  ;  oh.  iv. 

Intion  had  fallen  under  tlie  sway  of  factious  selfishness.  Yield- 
ing to  this  influence,  Yates  and  Lansing,  renouncing  the  path 
to  glory  and  the  voice  of  duty,  deserted  their  post,  leaying  to 
the  South  the  power  to  mould  the  commercial  policy  of  the 
union  at  its  will.  Hamilton,  being  left  alone,  had  no  vote,  and 
from  this  day  to  the  end  was  absent  more  than  half  the  time, 
taking  very  little  part  in  the  formation  of  the  constitution. 

In  the  convention,  from  its  organization  to  its  dissolution, 
there  was  always  a  majority  of  at  least  one  on  the  side  of  the 
southern  states.  After  the  defection  of  ISTew  York  the  propor- 
tion remained  six  to  four  till  ]S'ew  Hampshire  arrived. 

Slavery  in  the  United  States  was  a  transient  form,  not  an 
original  element  of  their  colonization,  nor  its  necessary  out- 
growth. In  the  division  between  northern  and  southern  states 
the  criterion  was,  whether  a  state  retained  the  power  and  the 
will  by  its  own  inward  energy  to  extricate  itseK  from  slavery. 
Seven  had  aboHshed,  or  were  preparing  to  abolish  it.  Madison  * 
and  others  counted  the  southern  states  as  no  more  than  five ; 
but  Delaware,  like  all  south  of  it,  gave  signs  of  being  not  equal 
to  the  high  endeavor  of  setting  all  its  bondmen  free ;  and  its 
votes  in  the  convention  prove  that  it  was  rightly  classed  by 
Dayton  f  with  the  South.  The  boundary  between  the  two 
sections  was  Mason  and  Dixon's  hne.  Pennsylvania,  purely 
popular,  without  family  aristocracies  or  the  ascendency  of  any 
one  form  of  religion,  first  in  agriculture  and  commerce,  and 
not  surpassed  in  ship-building,  stood  midway  between  six 
northern  states  and  six  southern  ones,  the  stronghold  of  an  undi- 
vided, inseparable  federal  republic. 

The  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  ITorth,  which  was  aided  by 
the  long  British  occupation  of  Boston,  Ehode  Island,  and  IN'ew 
York,  had  not  been  accomplished  without  a  quickening  of  con- 
science on  the  wrongfulness  of  hereditary  bondage  and  its  incon- 
sistency with  the  first  principles  of  American  polity.  By  the 
act  of  Pennsylvania  of  1780  for  the  gradual  abolition  of 
slavery,  persons  merely  sojourning  in  the  state  were  permitted 
to  retain  their  slaves  for  a  term  of  six  months ;  delegates  in 
congress  from  other  states,  foreign  ministers  and  consuls,  as 
long  as  they  continued  in  their  public  characters.     The  right  of 

*  Gilpin,  1104  ;  Elliot,  315.  t  Gilpin,  1058 ;  Elliot,  291. 


1787.  THE  ADJUSTME:N^T  OF  KEPEESENTATIOK  261 

the  masters  of  absconding  slaves  to  take  them  away  remained  as 
before.  But  the  recovery  of  a  slave  through  the  interposition 
of  the  courts  was  resisted  with  zeal  by  self-appointed  agents ;  * 
and  the  southern  master  sometimes  had  no  relief  but  to  seize  the 
runaway  and  bring  him  back  to  bondage  by  force. 

Abolition  and  manumission  societies  were  formed  in  various 
parts  of  the  Korth.  Of  one  of  these  Hamilton  was  the  secre- 
tary, with  Jay,  Duane,  and  Robert  R.  Livingston  for  associates. 
Just  at  this  time  Frankhn  was  elected  president  of  the  society 
in  Pennsylvania.  The  newspapers  of  all  parties  at  the  North 
teemed  with  essays  against  slavery.  The  opposition  to  it  pre- 
vailed in  nearly  all  religious  and  pohtical  sects,  but  flamed  the 
brightest  among  those  of  extreme  democratic  tendencies. 

In  1Y83  deputies  from  the  yearly  meeting  of  the  Quakers 
were  admitted  to  the  floor  f  of  congress,  and  deKvered  their 
address,  entreating  that  body  to  use  its  influence  for  the  gen- 
eral abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  and  in  several  later  years  the 
meeting  renewed  the  petition.  J  The  Presbyterian  synod 
which  met  at  Philadelphia  in  the  same  week  as  the  federal  con- 
vention resolved  "  to  procure  eventually  the  final  abolition  of 
slavery  in  America."  *  ,  The  Pennsylvam'a  AboHtion  Society 
adopted  a  memorial  to  the  convention  to  suppress  the  slave- 
trade,  II  though,  from  motives  of  prudence,  it  was  not  pre- 
sented. 

This  conspicuous  action  at  the  ISTorth  on  the  slave-trade  and 
slavery  might  have  baffled  every  hope  of  a  consolidated  union 
but  for  the  wide  distinction  between  those  states  that  were  least 
remote  from  the  West  Indies  and  those  that  lay  nearer  the 
ISTorth ;  between  the  states  which  planted  indigo  and  rice  and 
those  which  cultivated  by  slave  labor  maize  and  wheat  and 
tobacco ;  between  Georgia  and  South  Carohna  which  had  ever 
been  well  affected  to  the  slave-trade,  and  the  great  slave-hold- 

*  Dallas,  i.,  179,  180  ;  ii.,  224.  f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  289. 
I  Address  presented  8  October  1'783,  MS.,  at  State  Dept.,  Vol.  of  Kemon- 

strances  and  Addresses,  S39  ;  Letter  to  R.  H.  Lee,  President,  21  January  1785  ; 
ibid.,  347.  See  the  MS.  Records  of  the  Friends,  20  October  1786,  and  October 
1789. 

*  Acts  and  Proceedings  of  the  Synod  of  Xew  York  and  Philadelphia,  a.  d. 
11S1. 

I  Pcnn.  Packet  of  14  February  1T38 ;  T^dependcRt  Gazetteer  of  7  Mcrch  1788. 


262  THE  FEDERAL  OONVEXTIOiN'.  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  iv. 

ing  state  to  the  north  of  them  which  had  wrestled  with  England 
for  its  abolition. 

In  the  three  northernmost  of  the  southern  states  slavery 
maintained  itself,  not  as  an  element  of  prosperity,  but  as  a  bale- 
ful inheritance.  The  best  of  the  statesmen  of  Virginia,  without 
regard  to  other  questions  which  divided  them,  desired  its  aboli- 
tion— alike  Washington,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Jefferson,  Ran- 
dolph, Madison,  and  Grayson.  George  Mason  had  written  to 
the  legislature  of  Virginia  against  it  with  the  most  terrible  in- 
vectives and  gloomiest  forebodings. 

This  comparative  serenity  of  judgment  in  Virginia  was 
shared,  though  not  completely,  by  I^orth  Carolina,  of  whose 
population  three  parts  out  of  four  were  free,  and  whose  upland 
country  attracted  emigrants  by  its  fertility,  salubrity,  and  beauty. 

The  difference  betvfeen  the  two  classes  of  slave  states  was 
understood  by  themselves,  and  was  a  guarantee  that  questions 
on  slavery  would  neither  inflame  nor  unite  them.  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina  held  the  balance  of  power,  and  knew  how 
to  steer  clear  of  a  fatal  collison. 

The  preliminary  distribution  of  rej^resentatives  having  been 
agreed  upon,  Gouverneur  Morris  on  the  ninth  desired  to  leave 
the  control  of  future  changes  to  the  national  legislature.* 
Perceiving  peril  in  confiding  so  vast  a  discretion  to  those  who 
might  be  tempted  to  keep  to  themselves  an  undue  share  of 
legislative  power,  Randolph,  following  the  precedent  of  1781,  on 
the  tenth  insisted  on  an  absolute  constitutional  requirement  of 
a  census  of  population  and  an  estimate  of  wealth,  to  be  taken 
within  one  year  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  legislature,  and 
ever  thereafter  periodically ;  and  that  the  representation  should 
be  arranged  accordingly,  f 

Gouverneur  Morris,  supported  by  King  and  others,  resisted 
this  "  fettering  of  the  legislature,"  by  which  a  preponderance 
might  be  thrown  into  the  western  scale.  In  various  debates  it 
was  urged  by  Morris  and  King  and  others  that  the  western 
people  would  in  time  outnumber  those  of  the  Atlantic  states, 
while  they  would  be  less  wealthy,  less  cultivated,  less  favorable 
to  foreign  commerce,  and  less  willing  to  bide  the  right  moment 
for  acquiring  the  free  navigation  of  the  lower  Mississippi; 

"  Gilpin,  1052  ;  Elliot,  288.  i  Gilpin,  1063  ;  Elliot,  293. 


1787.  THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  EEPEESENTATIOiN".  2(53 

that  the  busy  haunts  of  men  are  the  proper  school  for  states- 
men; that  the  members  from  the  back  country  are  always 
most  averse  to  the  best  measures ;  that,  if  the  western  people 
should  get  the  power  into  their  hands,  they  would  ruin  the 
Atlantic  interests  ;  and  therefore  that,  in  every  future  legisla- 
ture, the  original  states  should  keep  the  majority  in  their  own 
hands.  "^ 

To  this  Mason  rephed :  "  A  revision  from  time  to  time, 
according  to  some  permanent  and  precise  standard,  is  essential 
to  fair  representation.  According  to  the  present  population  of 
America,  the  northern  part  of  it  has  a  right  to  preponderate ; 
and  I  cannot  deny  it.  But,  unless  there  shall  be  inserted  in 
the  constitution  some  principle  which  will  do  justice  to  the 
southern  states  hereafter,  when  they  shall  have  three  fourths 
of  the  people  of  America  within  their  limits,  I  can  neither 
vote  for  the  system  here  nor  support  it  in  my  state.  The 
western  states  as  they  arise  must  be  treated  as  equals,  or  they 
will  speedily  revolt.  The  number  of  inhabitants  is  a  suffi- 
ciently precise  standard  of  wealth."  f 

"  Congress,"  said  Eandolph,  "  have  pledged  the  public 
faith  to  the  new  states  that  they  shall  be  admitted  on  equal 
terms.  They  never  will,  they  never  ought  to  accede  on  any 
other."  :{:  Madison  demonstrated  that  no  distinctions  unfavor- 
able to  the  western  states  were  admissible,  either  in  point  of 
justice  or  policy.* 

By  a  vote  of  seven  to  three  the  first  legislature  under  the 
new  constitution  was  required  to  provide  for  a  census ;  |  a 
periodical  census  ever  after  was  then  accepted  without  a  divi- 
sion. Its  period,  first  fixed  at  fifteen  years,  after  repeated  de- 
bates, was  reduced  to  ten.^ 

Yet  an  ineradicable  dread  of  the  coming  powxr  of  the 
South-west  lurked  in  ^ew  England,  especially  in  Massachu- 
setts. On  the  fourteenth,  only  three  days  after  the  subject 
appeared  to  have  been  definitively  disposed  of,  Gerry  and  King 
moved  that  the  representatives  of  new  states  should  never  col- 


*  Gilpin,  1063,  1064,  1072  ;  Elliot,  294,  298,  #  Gilpin,  1073  ;  Elliot,  299. 

f  Gilpin,  1065,  1066  ;  Elliot,  294,  295.  I|  Gilpin,  1078  ;  Elliot,  301. 

X  Gilpin,  1067 ;  Elliot,  295.  ^  Gilpin,  1086 ;  Elliot,  305. 


264  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  iii. ;  oh.  iv. 

lectivelj  exceed  in  number  the  representatives  from  sncli  of 
the  old  thirteen  states  as  should  accede  to  the  new  confedera- 
tion.* The  motion  came  from  New  England ;  and  from  New 
England  came  the  reply.  "  We  are  providing  for  our  posteri- 
ty," said  Sherman,  who  had  taken  the  principal  part  in  secur- 
ing to  Connecticut  a  magnificent  reserve  of  lands  in  northern 
Ohio.  "  Our  children  and  our  grandchildren  will  be  as  likely 
to  be  citizens  of  new  western  states  as  of  the  old  states."  f  His 
words  were  lost  upon  his  own  colleagues.  The  motion  was 
defeated  by  the  narrowest  majority,  Massachusetts  being  sus- 
tained by  Connecticut,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  against  New 
Jersey  and  the  four  southernmost  states,  Pennsylvania  being 
divided.  X  The  vote  of  Maryland  and  Delaware  was  but  the 
dying  expression  of  old  regrets  about  the  proprietaryship  of 
western  lands,  from  which  they  had  been  excluded ;  that  of 
Massachusetts  sprung  from  a  jealousy  which  grew  stronger 
with  the  ever-increasing  political  power  of  the  South-west. 
But  in  spite  of  renewed  murmurs  the  decision  was  never  re- 
versed. 

The  final  concession  on  the  representation  for  slaves  pro- 
ceeded from  North  Carolina.  On  the  eleventh  of  July,  Wil- 
liamson accepted  for  the  permanent  basis  the  free  inhabit- 
ants and  three  fifths  of  all  others.*  Randolph  agreed  to  the 
amendment.  On  the  instant  Butler  and  Cotesworth  Pinckney 
demanded  that  the  blacks  should  be  counted  equally  with  the 
whites.  1 

New  York,  New  Hampshire,  and  Ehode  Island  not  being 
on  the  floor,  the  southern  states  were  left  with  ample  power 
to  settle  the  question  as  they  pleased.  "  The  motion,"  said 
Mason,  "  is  favorable  to  Virginia,  but  I  think  it  unjust.  As 
slaves  are  useful  to  the  community  at  large,  they  ought  not  to 
be  excluded  from  the  estimate  for  representation ;  I  cannot, 
however,  vote  for  them  as  equals  to  freemen."  ^  On  the  ques- 
tion, Delaware  alone  joined  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

Butledge  next  insisted  on  proportioning  representation  pe- 
riodically according  to  wealth  as  well  as  population.     This  was 


*  Gilpin,  1095;  Elliot,  SIO. 

#  Gilpin,  1066  ;  Elliot,  295. 

t  Ibid. 

II  Gilpin,  106Y  ;  Elliot,  296. 

t  Ibid. 

^  Gilpin,  1068 ;  Elliot,  296. 

1787.  THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  EEPRESENTATION.  265 

condemned  by  Mason  as  indefinite  and  impracticable,  leaving 
to  the  legislatm-e  a  pretext  for  doing  nothing.*  Madison  saw 
no  substantial  objection  to  fixing  numbers  for  the  perpetual 
standard  of  representation.f  In  like  manner  Sherman,  John- 
son, Wilson,  and  Gorham  looked  upon  population  as  the  best 
measure  of  wealth ;  and  accepted  the  propriety  of  establishing 
numbers  as  the  rule. 

King  refused  to  be  reconciled  to  any  concession  of  repre- 
sentation for  slaves.  J  Gouverneur  Morris,  always  a  hater  of 
slavery,  closed  the  debate  by  saying :  "  1  am  reduced  to  the  di- 
lemma of  doing  injustice  to  the  southern  states,  or  to  human 
nature,  and  I  must  do  it  to  the  former ;  I  can  never  agree  to 
give  such  encouragement  to  the  slave-trade  as  would  be  given 
by  allowing  them  a  representation  for  their  negroes."  * 

On  the  division,  those  who  insisted  on  enumerating  all  the 
slaves  and  those  who  refused  to  enumerate  any  of  them,  as 
elements  of  representation,  partially  coalesced ;  and  Connecti- 
cut, Yirginia,  and  JSTorth  Carolina,  though  aided  by  Georgia, 
were  outvoted  by  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  and  South  Carolina.  || 

The  aspect  of  affairs  at  the  adjournment  was  not  so  danger- 
ous as  it  seemed.  Yirginia  vath  a  united  delegation  had  her 
hand  on  the  helm,  while  North  Carolina  kept  watch  at  her 
side. 

But  Gouverneur  Morris  brooded  over  the  deep  gulf  by 
which  the  convention  seemed  to  him  rent  in  twain;  and 
rashly  undertook  to  build  a  bridge  over  the  chasm.  To  that 
end  he  proposed  the  next  morning  that  taxation  should  be  in 
proportion  to  representation.^  His  motion  was  general,  ex- 
tending to  every  branch  of  revenue. 

The  convention  was  taken  by  surprise.  South  Carolina 
scorned  to  be  driven  from  her  object  by  the  menace  of  increased 
contributions  to  the  general  treasury ;  and  again  demanded  a 
full  representation  for  all  blacks.  ^  Mason  pointed  out  that 
the  proposal  of  Gouverneur  Morris  would  so  embarrass  the  legis- 

'■  Gilpin,  lOTl ;  Elliot,  297.  *  Gilpin,  lOVS ;  Elliot,  301. 

f  Gilpin,  1074  ;  Elliot,  299.  |1  Ibid. 

X  Gilpin,  1076  ;  Elliot,  300.  ^  Gilpin,  1079  ;  Elliot,  302. 

0  Gilpin,  1079,  1030 ;  Elliot,  302. 


266  THE  FEDERAL  CONYEN'TIOK  b.  iii. ;  ch.  it. 

lature  in  raising  a  revenue  tliat  tliey  would  be  driven  back  to 
requisitions  on  the  states.  Appalled  at  discovering  that  his 
motion  was  a  death-blow  to  the  new  constitution,  Morris  lim- 
ited it  to  direct  taxation,  saying :  "  It  would  be  inapphcable  to 
indirect  taxes  on  exports  and  imports  and  consumjption."  * 
Cotesworth  Pinckney  took  fire  at  the  idea  of  taxing  exports. 
"Wilson  came  to  the  partial  rescue  of  Morris ;  and  the  conven- 
tion, without  a  dissentient,  agreed  that  "  direct  taxation  ought 
to  be  in  proportion  to  representation."  f  In  this  short  interlude, 
by  the  temerity  of  one  man,  the  United  States  were  precluded 
from  deriving  an  equitable  revenue  from  real  property.  Mor- 
ris soon  saw  what  evil  he  had  wrought,  but  he  vainly  strove  to 
retrieve  it. 

The  moderating  states  of  the  South  grew  restless.  "  North 
Carolina,"  said  Davie,  "  will  never  confederate  on  terms  that 
do  not  rate  their  blacks  at  least  as  three  fifths."  J  Johnson, 
holding  the  negro  slave  to  be  a  man,  and  nothing  less  than  a 
man,  could  not  forego  the  conclusion  "  that  blacks  equally  with 
the  whites  ought  to  faU  within  the  computation,"  and  his  votes 
conformed  to  his  scruples.  Contrary  to  the  wishes  of  Grouver- 
neur  Morris  and  King,  Kandolph  insisted  that  the  representa- 
tion allowed  for  slaves  should  be  imbodied  in  the  constitution, 
saying :  "  I  lament  that  such  a  species  of  property  exists  ;  but, 
as  it  does  exist,  the  holders  of  it  will  require  this  security."  * 
Ellsworth  seconded  Ilandolj)h,  whose  motion  was  tempered  in 
its  form  by  Wilson,  so  as  to  avoid  the  direct  mention  of  slaveiy 
or  slave.  "  The  southern  states,"  said  King,  "  threaten  to  sepa- 
rate now  in  case  injury  shall  be  done  them.  There  will  be  no 
point  of  time  at  which  they  will  not  be  able  to  say,  '  Do  us 
justice  or  we  wiU  separate.'  "  The  final  motion  to  make  blacks 
equal  with  whites  in  fixing  the  ratio  of  representation  received 
no  support  but  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia ;  ||  and  the  com- 
promise, proportioning  representation  to  direct  taxation,  and 
both  to  the  number  of  the  free  and  three  fifths  of  others,  was 
established  by  the  southern  states,  even  Georgia  approving,  and 
South  Carolina  relenting  so  far  as  to  divide  its  vote."^ 

*  Gilpin,  1080;  Elliot,  302.  ^  Gilpin,  1083;  Elliot,  304. 

t  Gilpin,  1081 ;  Elliot,  302.  I  Gilpin,  1084-1087  ;  Elliot,  304-306. 

i  Gilpin,  1081  ;  Elliot,  302,  303.  ^  Gilpin,  108G,  1087;  Elliot,  306. 


1787.  THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  EEPRESENTATION.  2G7 

Eandolph,  on  tlie  tliirteenth,  seized  the  opportunity  to  pro- 
pose numbers  as  tlie  sole  rule  of  representation.  Gouverneur 
Morris  "  stated  the  result  of  his  deep  meditation  "  :  "  The  south- 
ern gentlemen  will  not  be  satisfied  unless  they  see  the  way  open 
to  their  gaining  a  majority  in  the  public  councils.  The  conse- 
quence of  such  a  transfer  of  power  from  the  maritime  to  the 
interior  and  landed  interest  will,  I  foresee,  be  an  oppression  to 
commerce.  In  this  struggle  between  the  two  ends  of  the 
union,  the  middle  states  ought  to  join  their  eastern  brethren. 
If  the  southern  states  get  the  power  into  their  hands  and  be 
joined  as  they  will  be  with  the  interior  country,  everything  is 
to  be  apprehended." 

By  the  interior,  Morris  had  specially  in  his  mind  the  rising- 
states  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  Butler  replied :  "  The 
southern  states  want  security  that  their  negroes  may  not  be 
taken  from  them,  which  some  gentlemen  within  or  without 
doors  have  a  very  good  mind  to  do.  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia  will  have  relatively  many  more  people 
than  they  now  have.  The  people  and  strength  of  America  are 
evidently  bearing  to  the  South  and  South-west."  * 

"  The  majority,"  said  Wilson,  "  wherever  found,  ought  to 
govern.  The  interior  country,  should  it  acquire  this  majority, 
will  avail  itseK  of  its  right  whether  we  will  or  no.  If  num- 
bers be  not  a  proper  rule,  why  is  not  some  better  rule  pointed 
out  ?  Congress  have  never  been  able  to  discover  a  better.  No 
state  has  suggested  any  other.  Property  is  not  the  sole  nor  the- 
primary  end  of  government  and  society ;  the  improvement  of 
the  human  mind  is  the  most  noble  object.  With  respect  to 
this  and  other  personal  rights,  numbers  are  surely  the  natural 
and  precise  measure  of  representation,  and  could  not  vary  much 
from  the  precise  measure  of  property."  f 

The  apportionment  of  representation  according  to  numbers 
was  adopted  without  a  negative,  Delaware  alone  being  divided.:]: 
The  American  declaration  of  independence  proclaimed  all  men 
free  and  equal ;  the  federal  convention  founded  representation 
on  numbers  alone. 

The  equality  of  votes  of  the  states  in  the  senate  being  re- 

*  Gilpin,  1091-1093  ;  Elliot,  308,  809. 
f  Gilpin,  1093,  1094;  Elliot,  309.  X  Gilpin,  1091;  Elliot,  309. 


268  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION".         b.  iii. ;  en.  iv. 

ported  to  the  conyention  on  the  fourteenth,  was  resisted  bj 
Wilson,  King,  and  Madison  to  the  last  as  contrary  to  justice. 
On  the  other  hand,  Sherman  held  that  the  state  governments 
could  not  be  preserved  unless  they  should  have  a  negative  in 
the  general  government. 

Caleb  Strong,  a  statesman  of  consummate  prudence,  from 
the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  a  fit 
representative  of  the  country  people  of  Massachusetts,  lucidly 
reviewed  the  case,  and,  from  the  desire  to  prevent  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  union,  found  himself  compelled  to  vote  for  the  com- 
promise. Madison  replied  in  an  elaborate  speech,  which  closed 
'with  these  words :  "  Th^  perpetuity  which  an  equahty  of  votes 
I  in  the  second  branch  will  give  to  the  preponderance  of  the 
northern  against  the  southern  scale  is  a  serious  consideration. 
It  seems  now  well  understood  that  the  real  difference  of  inter- 
ests lies,  not  between  the  large  and  small,  but  between  the 
northern  and  southern  states.  The  institution  of  slavery  and 
its  consequences  form  the  line  of  discrimination.  Should  a 
proportional  representation  take  place,  the  northern  will  still 
outnumber  the  other ;  but  every  day  will  tend  toward  an  equi- 
librium." * 

The  great  poet  of  the  Hellenic  race  relates  how  the  most 
famed  of  its  warriors  was  lured  by  one  of  the  heavenly  powers 
from  the  battle-field  to  chase  a  phantom.  Had  the  South 
joined  with  the  smaller  states  to  establish  the  suffrage  by  states 
in  both  branches  of  the  general  legislature,  it  would,  in  less 
than  ten  years, f  have  arrived  at  an  equality,  alike  in  the  house 
and  in  the  senate.  But  it  believed  that  swarms  of  emigrants 
were  about  to  throng  every  path  to  the  South-west,  bearing 
with  them  affluence  and  power.  It  did  not  yet  know  the 
dynamic  energy  of  freedom  in  producing  wealth,  and  attract- 
ing and  employing  and  retaining  population.  The  equality  of 
the  vote  in  the  senate,  which  Virginia  and  South  Carolina 
vehemently  resisted,  was  to  gain  and  preserve  for  the  slave- 
holding  states  a  balance  in  one  branch  of  the  legislature ;  in 
the  other,  where  representation  was  apportioned  to  population, 
the  superiority  of  the  free  commonwealths  would  increase  from 
decade  to  decade  till  slavery  in  the  United  States  should  be  no 

*  Gilpin,  1104;  Elliot,  315.  f  In  1796,  on  the  admission  of  Tennessee. 


1787.  THE   ADJUSTMENT  OF  KEPRESENTATION.  269 

more.  Shrinking  from  the  final  vote  on  the  question,  the 
house  adjourned. 

On  Monday,  the  sixteenth,  as  soon  as  the  convention  assem- 
bled, the  question  was  taken  on  the  amended  report  which 
included  an  equality  of  votes  in  the  senate.*  The  six  south- 
ern states  were  present,  and  only  four  of  the  northern.  Four 
of  the  six  states  which  demanded  a  proportioned  representa- 
tion stubbornly  refused  to  yield.  It  was  of  decisive  influence 
on  the  history  of  the  country  that  Strong  and  Gerry,  balanc- 
ing the  inflexible  King  and  Gorham,  pledged  Massachusetts 
at  least  to  neutrality.  On  the  other  side,  Connecticut,  "New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland  spurned  the  thought  of  sur- 
render. The  decision  was  given  by  iN'orth  Carolina,  which 
broke  from  her  great  associates  and  gave  a  majority  of  one  to 
the  smaller  states.  More  than  ten  years  before,  Jefferson  had 
most  earnestly  proposed  this  compromise,  seeking  to  proselyte 
John  Adams,  to  whom  he  wrote :  "  The  good  whigs  will  so 
far  cede  their  opinions  for  the  sake  of  union."  f  He  heard 
with  great  joy  that  his  prophecy  had  come  to  pass.  ^ 

The  large  states  accepted  the  decision  as  final.  When,  on 
the  seventeenth,  Gouverneur  Morris  proposed  a  reconsidera- 
tion of  the  resolution  of  the  former  day,  no  one  would  second 
his  motion.'' 

On  the  twenty-third  the  number  of  senators  for  each  state 
was  fixed  at  two,  and  each  of  these,  as  had  been  proposed  by 
Gerry  and  supported  by  Sherman,  was  personally  to  have  one 
vote.* 

From  the  day  when  every  doubt  of  the  right  of  the  smaller 
states  to  an  equal  vote  in  the  senate  was  quieted,  they — so  I 
received  it  from  the  Hps  of  Madison,  and  so  it  appears  from  the 
records — exceeded  all  others  in  zeal  for  granting  powers  to  the 
general  government.  Ellsworth  became  one  of  its  strongest 
pillars.  Paterson  of  New  Jersey  was  for  the  rest  of  his  life 
a  federalist  of  federalists. 

*  Gilpin,  1107-1109  ;  Elliot,  316,  317. 

f  Works  of  John  Adams,  ix.,  465-467.  t  Jefferson,  ii.,  329. 

#  Gilpin,  1098,  1185,  1186  ;  Elliot,  311,  312,  356,  357. 


270  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  B.iii.;cn.  y. 


CHAPTEH  Y. 

THE    OUTLINE    OF    THE    CONSTITUTION    COMPLETED   AND  REFERRED. 

From  the  17th  to  the  2Tth  of  July  17ST. 

(         The  distribution  of  powers  between  the  general  govern- 
^  ^  ment  and  the  states  was  tlie  most  delicate  and  most  difficult  task 
1  before  the  convention.     Startled  by  the  vagueness  of  language 
in  the  Virginia  resolve,  Sherman  on  the  seventeenth  of  July 
proposed  the  grant  of  powers  "  to  make  laws  in  all  cases  which 
may  concern  the  common  interests  of  the  union,  but  not  to  in- 
terfere with  the  government  of  the  individual  states  in  any 
matters  of  internal  police  which  respect  the  government  of 
such  states  only,  and  wherein  the  general  welfare  of  the  United 
States  is  not  concerned."  *     Wilson  seconded  the  amendment, 
as  better  exj^ressing  the  general  principle.     But,  on  scanning 
/its probable  interpretation  by  the  separate  states,  the  objection 
y  \  prevailed  that  it  would  be  construed  to  withhold  from  the  gen- 
sj  ^eral  government  the  authority  to  levy  direct  taxes  and  the 
I  authority  to  suppress  the  paper  money  of  the  states. 
/        Bedford  moved  to  empower  the  national  legislature  "  to 
\  legislate  for  the  general  interests  of  the  union,  for  cases  to 
/  <  which  the  states  are  severally  incompetent,  or  in  which  the 
V    i  harmony  of  the  United  States  might  be  interrupted  by  the 
exercise  of  individual  legislation."  f     This  Gouverneur  Morris 
gladly  seconded  ;  and,  though  Kandolph  resisted,  the  curreut 
^  ran  with  such  increasing  vehemence  for  union  that  the  amend- 
ment was  adopted  at  first  by  six  states,  and  then  by  every  state 
but  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

As  to  giving  power  to  tlie  national  legislature  "  to  negative 

*  Gilpin,  1115  ;  Elliot,  319,  320.  f  Gilpin,  1116  ;  Elliot,  320. 


1787.       OUTLINE   OF  THE   CONSTITUTIOISr  EEFERRED.        271 

laws  passed  by  the  several  states,"  Gouvemeiir  Morris,  opposing'^ 
it  as  terrible  to  the  states,'^  looked  where  Jefferson  invited 
Madison  to  look^to  the  judiciary  department  to  set  aside  a 
law  that  ought  to  be  negatived.f  Sherman  insisted  that  state 
laws,  contravening  the  authority  of  the  nnion,  :j:  were  invalid 
and  inoperative  from  the  beginning.  Madison  put  forth  all 
his  strength  to  show  that  a  power  of  negativing  the  improper 
laws  of  the  states  is  the  most  mild  and  certain  means  of  pre- 
serving the  harmony  of  the  system.  He  was  supported  by 
Massachusetts,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina.* 

From  the  New  Jersey  plan  it  was  taken,  without  one  dis- 
sentient, that  the  laws  and  treaties  of  the  United  States  should 
be  the  supreme  law  of  the  states,  and  bind  their  judiciaries, 
anything  in  their  laws  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  ||  That 
all  power  not  granted  to  the  general  government  remained 
with  the  states  was  the  opinion  of  every  member  of  the  con- 
vention ;  but  they  held  it  a  work  of  supererogation  to  place  in 
the  constitution  an  express  recognition  of  the  reservation. 
Thus  in  one  half  of  a  morning  the  convention  began  and  ended 
its  distribution  of  power  between  the  states  and  the  union. 
The  further  development  of  the  central  government  brought 
to  it  a  wider  scope  of  action  and  new  ascendency  over  the 
states. 

The  construction  of  the  executive  department  was  fraught 
with  bewildering  difficulties,  of  which  a  new  set  rose  up  as 
fast  as  the  old  ones  were  overcome.  The  convention,  though 
it  devoted  many  days  in  July  to  the  subject,  did  but  acquiesce 
for  the  moment  in  the  Virginia  resolve,  with  which  its  delib- 
erations had  yet  made  it  thoroughly  discontented. 

Mason  and  the  Pinckneys  would  have  required  a  qualifi- 
cation of  landed  property  for  the  executive,  judiciary,  and 
members  of  the  national  legislature."^  Gerry  approved  secur- 
ing property  by  property  provisions.  "If  qualifications  are 
proper,"  said  Gouverneur  Morris,  "  I  should  prefer  them  in 
the  electors  rather  than  the  elected ; "  ^  and  Madison  agreed 

*  Gilpin,  lllY  ;  Elliot,  321.  |I  Gilpin,  1119  :  Elliot,  822. 

t  Gilpin,  Ills  ;  Elliot,  321.  ^  Gilpin,  1211,  1213  ;  Elliot,  370,  371. 

±  Gil-ia,  lllY,  1118  ;  Elliot,  321,  322.  ()  Gilpin,  1211 ;  Elliot,  3'70. 

^^  GiJnJn,  1118,  1119  ;  Elliot,  322. 


272  THE  FEDERAL  COKYENTION.     b.iii.;oh.v. 

with  Mm.  "  I,"  said  Dickinson,  "  doubt  tlie  policy  of  inter- 
weaving into  a  republican  constitution  a  veneration  for  wealth. 
A  veneration  for  poverty  and  virtue  is  the  object  of  republican 
encoui-agement.  'No  man  of  merit  should  be  subjected  to  dis- 
abilities in  a  republic  where  merit  is  understood  to  form  the 
great  title  to  public  trust,  honors,  and  rewards."  *  The  sub- 
ject came  repeatedly  before  the  convention;  but  it  never 
consented  to  require  a  property  qualification  for  any  office  in 
the  general  government.  In  this  way  no  obstruction  to  uni- 
versal suffrage  was  allowed  to  conquer  a  foothold  in  the  con- 
stitution, but  its  builders  left  the  enlargement  of  suffrage  to 
time  and  future  lawgivers.  They  disturbed  no  more  than  was 
needed  for  the  success  of  their  work.  They  were  not  rest- 
less in  zeal  for  one  abstract  rule  of  theoretical  equality  to  be 
introduced  instantly  and  everywhere.  They  were  like  the 
mariner  in  mid-ocean,  on  the  rolhng  and  tossing  deck  of  a 
ship,  who  learns  how  to  keep  his  true  course  by  watching 
the  horizon  as  well  as  the  sun.  In  leading  a  people  across 
the  river  that  divided  their  old  condition  from  the  new, 
the  makers  of  the  new  form  of  government  anchored  the 
supporting  boats  of  their  bridge  up  stream.  The  qualifica- 
tions of  the  electors  it  left  to  be  decided  by  the  states,  each 
for  itself. 

All  agreed  "that  a  supreme  tribunal  should  be  estab- 
lished," f  and  that  the  national  legislature  should  be  empow- 
ered to  create  inferior  tribunals,  j;.  By  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, on  the  eighteenth,  the  judges  were  to  be  appointed  by 
the  senate.  Gorham,  supported  by  Gouverneur  Morris,  pro- 
posed their  appointment  "  by  the  executive  with  the  consent 
of  the  second  branch " ;  a  mode,  he  said,  which  had  been 
ratified  by  the  experience  of  a  hundred  and  forty  years  in 
Massachusetts.*  The  proposal  was  gradually  gaining  favor; 
but  for  the  moment  failed  by  an  equal  division. 

The  trial  of  impeachments  of  national  officers  was  taken 
from  the  supreme  court ;  and  then,  in  the  words  of  Madison, 
its  jurisdiction  was  unanimously  made  to  "  extend  to  all  cases 
arising  under  the  national  laws,  or  involving  the  national  peace 

*  Gilpin,  1213-1215;  Elliot,  371,  3V2.  ^  Gilpin,  113Y;  Elliot,  331. 

f  Gilpin,  1130;  Elliot,  328.  #  Gilpin,  1134;  Elliot,  330. 


1787.       OUTLINE   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  KEFERRED.        273 

and  harmony."  *  Controversies  wliicli  began  and  ended  in  the 
several  states  were  not  to  be  removed  from  the  courts  of  the 
states. 

The  convention  had  still  to  decide  how  the  new  consti- 
tution should  be  ratified.  "  By  the  legislatures  of  the  states," 
proposed  Ellsworth,  on  the  twenty-third,  and  he  was  seconded 
by  Paterson.  "  The  legislatures  of  the  states  have  no  power  to 
ratify  it,"  said  Mason.  "  And,  if  they  had,  it  would  be  wrong 
to  refer  the  plan  to  them,  because  succeeding  legislatures,  hav- 
ing equal  authority,  could  undo  the  acts  of  their  predecessors, 
and  the  national  government  would  stand  in  each  state  on  the 
tottering  foundation  of  an  act  of  assembly.  Whither,  then, 
must  we  resort?  To  the  people,  with  whom  all  power  re- 
mains that  has  not  been  given  up  in  the  constitutions  derived 
from  them." 

"  One  idea,"  said  Randolph,  "  has  pervaded  all  our  pro- 
ceedings, that  opposition,  as  well  from  the  states  as  from  in- 
dividuals, will  be  made  to  the  system  to  be  proposed.  Will 
it  not,  then,  be  highly  imprudent  to  furnish  any  unnecessary 
pretext  by  the  mode  of  ratifying  it  ?  The  consideration  of  this 
subject  should  be  transferred  from  the  legislatures,  where  local 
demagogues  have  their  full  influence,  to  a  field  in  which  their 
efforts  can  be  less  mischievous.  Moreover,  some  of  the  states 
are  averse  to  any  change  in  their  constitution,  and  will  not 
take  the  requisite  steps  unless  expressly  called  upon  to  refer 
the  question  to  the  people."  f 

"The  confederation,"  said  Gerry,  "is  paramount  to  the 
state  constitutions ;  and  its  last  article  authorizes  alterations 
only  by  the  unanimous  concurrence  of  the  states."  "  Are  all 
the  states,"  replied  his  colleague  Gorham,  "to  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  ruined,  if  Rhode  Island,  if  'New  York,  should 
persist  in  opposition  to  general  measures?  Provision  ought 
to  be  made  for  giving  effect  to  the  system,  without  waiting 
for  the  unanimous  concurrence  of  the  states." :{: 

"  A  new  set  of  ideas,"  said  Ellsworth,  "  seems  to  have  crept 
in  since  the  articles  of  confederation  were  established.  Con- 
ventions of  the  people,  with  power  derived  expressly  from 

»  Gilpin,  113<S;  Elliot,  332,  and  L,  210.  X  Gilpin,  1180;  Elliot,  354. 

f  Gilpin,  1177-1179;  Elliot,  352,  353. 
VOL.   VI. — 18 


274  THE   FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.iii.;ch.v. 

'  tlie  people,  were  not  then  thought  of."  *  ^'  A  reference  to 
the  authority  of  the  people  expressly  delegated  to  conven- 
tions," insisted  King,  "  is  most  likely  to  draw  forth  the  best 
men  in  the  states  to  decide  on  the  new  constitution,  and  to 
obviate  disputes  and  doubts  concerning  its  legitimacy."  f 

Madison  spoke  with  intense  earnestness.  "  The  difference 
between  a  system  founded  on  the  legislatures  only  and  one 
founded  on  the  people  is  the  difference  between  a  treaty  and 
a  constitution.  A  law  violating  a  treaty  ratified  by  a  pre- 
existing law  might  be  respected  by  the  judges ;  a  law  vio- 
lating a  constitution  established  by  the  people  themselves  would 
be  considered  by  the  judges  as  null  and  void.  A  breach  of  any 
one  article  of  a  treaty  by  any  one  of  the  parties  frees  the  other 
parties  from  their  engagements ;  a  union  of  the  people,  under 
one  constitution,  by  its  nature  excludes  such  an  interpreta- 
tion." x 

After  a  full  debate,  the  convention,  by  nine  states  against 
Delaware,  referred  the  ratification  of  the  new  constitution  to 
)  an  assembly  in  each  state  to  be  chosen  specially  for  that  pur- 
(.  pose  by  the  people.* 

In  the  following  three  days  the  resolutions  of  the  federal 
convention  for  the  establishment  of  a  national  government, 
consisting  of  twenty-three  in  number,  were  finished  and  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  of  detail,  five  in  number,  who  were  or- 
dered to  prepare  and  report  them  in  the  form  of  a  constitution. 
"With  them  were  referred  the  propositions  of  Charles  Pinckney 
and  the  plan  of  New  Jersey.  v. 

The  federal  convention  selected  for  its  committee  of  detail 
three  members  from  the  North  and  two  from  the  South — Gor- 
ham,  Ellsworth,  Wilson,  Randolph,  and  John  Rutledge,  of 
whom  the  last  was  the  chairman.  By  ancestry  Scotch-Irish, 
in  early  youth  carefully  but  privately  educated,  afterward  a 
student  of  law  in  the  Temple  at  London,  Rutledge  became  the 
foremost  statesman  of  his  time  south  of  Yirginia.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-six  he  began  his  national  career  in  the  stamp-act  con- 
gress of  1765,  and  from  that  time  was  employed  by  his  state 
wherever  the  aspect  of  affairs  was  the  gravest.     Patrick  Henry 

*  Gilpin,  1181 ;  Elliot,  354.  ^  Gilpin,  1183,  1184 ;  Elliot,  355,  356. 

t  Gilpin,  1183  ;  Elliot,  355.  ^  Gilpin,  1185  ;  Elliot,  356. 


1787.       OUTLINE   OF  THE   CONSTITUTION  REFERRED.        275 

pronounced  him  tlie  most  eloquent  man  in  tlie  congress  of 
1774: ;  liis  sincerity  gave  force  to  his  words.  In  the  darkest 
hours  he  was  intrepid,  hopeful,  inventive  of  resources,  and  reso- 
lute, so  that  timidity  and  wavering  disappeared  before  him.  To 
the  day  when  disease  impaired  his  powers  he  was,  in  war  and 
in  peace,  the  pride  of  Soutli  Carolina.  That  state  could  not 
have  selected  an  abler  representative  of  its  policy  on  the  pay- 
ment of  the  members  of  the  national  legislature  from  the 
treasuries  of  the  states,  on  the  slave-trade,  the  taxation  of  ex- 
ports, and  the  requisition  of  more  than  a  bare  majority  of  the 
legislature  to  counteract  European  restrictions  on  navigation. 

Of  his  associates,  Gorham  was  a  merchant  of  Boston,  who 
from  his  own  experience  understood  the  commercial  relations 
of  his  country,  and  knew  where  the  restrictive  laws  of  Eng- 
land, of  France,  and  of  Spain  injured  American  trade  and  ship- 
ping. Ellsworth,  who  had  just  established  harmony  between 
the  small  and  the  larger  states  by  a  wdse  and  happy  compromise, 
now  found  himself  the  umpire  between  the  extreme  South  and 
the  ^N'orth. 

Cotesworth  Pinckney  called  to  mind  that  if  the  committee 
should  fail  to  insert  some  security  to  the  southern  states  against 
an  emancipation  of  slaves,  and  against  taxes  on  exports,  he 
should  be  bound  by  duty  to  his  state  to  vote  against  their  re- 
port.* After  this  the  convention,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  July, 
unanimously  adjourned  till  Monday,  the  sixth  of  August,  that 
the  committee  of  detail  might  have  time  to  prepare  and  report 
the  constitution. f 

The  committee  in  joint  consultation  gave  their  unremitting 
attention  to  every  question  that  came  before  them.  J  Their 
best  guides  were  the  constitutions  of  the  several  states,  which 
furnished  most  striking  expressions,  and  regulations  approved 
by  long  experience.  There  is  neither  record  nor  personal  nar- 
rative of  their  proceedings,  though  they  were  invested  with  the  ( 
largest  constructive  powers;  but  the  conduct  of  its  several 
members  may  be  determined  by  light  reflected  from  their  own  ; 
words  and  actions  before  and  after.   Meanwhile  the  interest  and  • 

*  Gilpin,  1187 ;  Elliot,  357.  f  Gilpin,  1220;  Elliot,  374,  375. 

X  Wilson  in  Gilpin,  1249  ;  Elliot,  385,  and  Rutledge  in  Gilpin,  1284 ;  Elliot, 
403. 


276  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.iii.;ch.v. 

anxiety  of  tlie  country  were  on  the  increase.  In  May  Grayson 
had  written  to  Monroe :  "  The  weight  of  General  Washington 
is  very  great  in  America,  but  I  hardly  think  it  is  sufficient  to 
induce  the  people  to  pay  money  or  part  with  power."  *  "  If 
what  the  convention  recommend  should  be  rejected,"  so  wrote 
Monroe  to  Jefferson  the  day  after  the  adjournment,  "  they  will 
complete  our  ruin.  But  I  trust  that  the  presence  of  General 
"Washington  will  overawe  and  keep  under  the  demon  of  party, 
and  that  the  signature  of  his  name  to  the  result  of  their  de- 
liberations will  secure  its  passage  through  the  union." 

*  Grayson  to  Monroe,  29  May  1*787. 


1786.  THE  COLONTAL  SYSTEM  OF   AMEPwIOA.  277 


CHAPTER  YL 

the  colonial  system  op  the  united  states. 
Feom  Januaey  1786  to  July  1787. 

Before  the  federal  convention  had  referred  its  resolutions 
to  a  committee  of  detail,  an  interlude  in  congress  was  shaping 
the  character  and  destiny  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
Sublime  and  humane  and  eventful  in  the  history  of  mankind 
as  was  the  result,  it  will  take  not  many  words  to  tell  how  it 
was  brought  about.  For  a  time  wisdom  and  peace  and  justice 
dwelt  among  men,  and  the  great  ordinance,  which  could  alone 
give  continuance  to  the  union,  came  in  serenity  and  stillness. 
Every  man  that  had  a  share  in  it  seemed  to  be  led  by  an  invisi- 
ble hand  to  do  just  what  was  wanted  of  him ;  all  that  was  wrong- 
fully undertaken  fell  to  the  ground  to  wither  by  the  wayside ; 
whatever  was  needed  for  the  happy  completion  of  the  mighty 
work  arrived  opportunely,  and  just  at  the  right  moment  moved 
into  its  place. 

By  the  order  of  congress  a  treaty  was  to  be  held,  in  Janu- 
ary 1786,  with  the  Shawnees,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great 
Miami.  Monroe,  who  had  been  present  as  a  spectator  at  the 
meeting  of  the  United  States  commissioners  with  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  Six  Nations  at  Fort  Stanwix,  in  1784,  desired  to 
attend  this  meeting  with  a  remoter  tribe.  He  reached  Fort 
Pitt,  and  with  some  of  the  American  party  began  the  descent 
of  the  Ohio ;  but,  from  the  low  state  of  the  water,  he  aban- 
doned the  expedition  at  Limestone,  and  made  his  way  to 
Richmond  through  Kentucky  and  the  wilderness.  As  the 
result  of  his  inquiries  on  the  journey,  he  took  with  him  to 
congress  the  opinion  that  a  great  part  of  the  western  territory, 


278  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  iii.  ;  ch.  vi. 

especially  that  near  Lakes  Michigan  and  Erie,  was  miserably 
poor ;  that  the  land  on  the  Mississippi  and  the  Illinois  consisted 
of  extensive  plains  which  had  not  a  single  bnsh  on  them,  and 
would  not  have  for  ages ;  that  the  western  settlers,  in  many 
of  the  most  important  objects  of  a  federal  government,  would 
be  either  opposed  to  the  interests  of  the  old  states  or  but  lit- 
tle connected  with  them.  He  would  form  the  territory  into 
no  more  than  five  states ;  but  he  adhered  to  the  principle  of 
Jefferson,  that  they  ought  as  soon  as  possible  to  take  part  in 
governing  themselves,  and  at  an  early  day  share  "  the  sover- 
eignty, freedom,  and  independence  "  of  the  other  states. 

In  the  course  of  the  winter  the  subject  of  the  division  of 
the  western  territory  into  states  was,  on  the  motion  of  Monroe, 
referred  to  a  grand  committee.  Its  report,  which  was  pre- 
sented on  the  twenty-fourth  of  March,  traced  the  division  of 
the  territory  into  ten  states  to  the  resolution  of  congress  of 
September  1780,  by  which  no  one  was  to  contain  less  territory 
than  one  hundred  nor  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
square.  This  resolution  had  controlled  the  ordinance  of  April 
1784 ;  and,  as  the  first  step  toward  a  reform,  every  part  of  that 
ordinance  which  conflicted  with  the  power  of  congress  to  di- 
vide the  territory  into  states  according  to  its  own  discretion 
was  to  be  repealed.* 

Yirginia  had  imbodied  the  resolve  of  congress  of  Septem- 
ber 1780  in  its  cession  of  its  claims  to  the  land  north-west  of 
the "  Ohio.  A  further  report  proposed  that  Virginia  should  be 
asked  to  revise  its  act  of  cession. f 

At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  Dane  made  a  successful 
motion  to  raise  a  committee  for  considering  and  reporting  the 
form  of  a  temporary  government  for  the  western  states. :[:  Its 
chairman  was  Monroe,  with  Johnson  and  King  of  JN^ew  Eng- 

*  This  first  report  of  the  grand  committee  is  found  in  Reports  of  Committees, 
Papers  of  Old  Congress,  xxx.,  75,  in  the  State  Department,  and  is  indorsed  as  hav- 
ing been  "read  24th  of  March  1780,  to  be  considered  Thursday,  March  30th." 

f  This  second  report  of  the  grand  committee  is  found  likewise  in  vol.  xxx.,  79, 
and  following,  of  Papers  of  Old  Congress ;  but  it  has  no  indorsement  as  to  the 
time  when  it  was  entered,  read,  or  considered. 

X  The  day  on  which  this  motion  was  made  is  not  given,  nor  is  the  motion  en- 
tered  in  the  Journal.  It  was  probcibly  in  April.  We  get  the  fact  from  page  85 
of  vol.  xxx.  of  the  Papers  of  the  Old  Congress. 


1786.  THE   COLONIAL   SYSTEM   OF  AMEPwIOA.  279 

land,  John  Kean  and  Charles  Pinckney  of  South  Carolina,  as 
his  associates.  On  the  tenth  of  May  this  committee  read  their 
report.  It  asked  the  consent  of  Virginia  to  a  division  of  the 
territory  into  not  less  than  two  nor  more  than  five  states ;  pre- 
sented a  plan  for  their  temporary  colonial  government;  and 
promised  them  admission  into  the  confederacy  on  the  princi- 
ple of  the  ordinance  of  Jefferson.  ]^ot  one  word  was  said  of 
a  restriction  on  slavery.  "^J^o  man  liked  better  than  Monroe  to 
lean  for  support  on  the  minds  and  thoughts  of  others.  He  y/ 
loved  to  spread  his  sails  to  a  favoring  breeze,  but  in  threaten- 
ing w^eather  preferred  quiet  under  the  shelter  of  his  friends. 
When  Jefferson,  in  1784,  moved  a  restriction  on  slavery  in  the 
western  country  from  Florida  to  the  Lake  of  the  AVoods,  Mon- 
roe was  ill  enough  to  be  out  of  the  way  at  the  division.  When 
King  in  the  following  year  revived  the  question,  he  was  again 
absent  at  the  vote ;  now,  when  the  same  subject  challenged  his 
attention,  he  was  silent.' 

""  At  first  Monroe  flattered  himself  that  his  report  was  gener- 
ally approved  ;  *  but  no  step  was  taken  toward  its  adoption^ 
All  that  was  done  lastingly  for  the  West  by  this  congress  was 
the  fruit  of  independent  movements.  On  the  twelfth  of  May, 
at  the  motion  of  Grayson  seconded  by  King,  the  navigable 
waters  leading  into  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
the  carrying  places  between  them,  were  declared  to  be  common 
highways,  forever  free  to  all  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
without  any  tax,  impost,  or  duty. 

.  The  assembly  of  Connecticut,  which  in  the  same  month 
held  a  session,  was  resolved  on  opening  a  land  ofiice  for  the 
sale  of  six  millions  of  acres  west  of  the  Pennsylvania  line 
which  their  state  had  reserved  in  its  cession  of  all  further 
claims  by  charter  to  western  lands.  The  reservation  was  not 
excessive  in  extent ;  the  right  of  Connecticut  under  its  charter 
had  been  taken  away  by  an  act  of  the  British  parliament  of 
which  America  had  alw^ays  denied  the  validity.  The  federal 
constitution  had  provided  no  mode  of  settling  a  strife  between 
a  state  and  the  United  States ;  a  war  would  cost  more  than  the 
land  was  worth. f     Grayson  ceased  his  opposition  ;  and  on  the 

*  Monroe  to' Jefferson,  New  York,  11  May  1786. 
f  Grayson  to  Madison, "28  May  1786. 


280  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.    b.  iii.  ;  ch.  vi. 

fourteenth  of  the  following  September  congress  accepted  the 
deed  of  cession  by  which  Connecticut  was  confirmed  in  the 
possession  of  what  was  called  her  "  western  reserve."  The 
compact  establishment  of  the  culture  of  l^ew  England  in  that 
district  had  the  most  beneficent  effect  on  the  character  of  Ohio 
and  the  development  of  the  union. 

For  diminishing  the  number  of  the  states  to  be  formed  out 
of  the  western  territory,  Monroe  might  hope  for  a  favorable 
hearing.  At  his  instance  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  grand 
committee,  which  on  the  seventh  of  July  reported  in  favor  of 
obtaining  the  assent  of  Virginia  to  the  division  of  the  territory 
north-west  of  the  Ohio  into  not  less  than  two  nor  more  than 
five  states. 

With  singular  liberality  Grayson  proposed  to  divide  the 
country  at  once  into  not  less  than  five  states.  He  would  run 
a  line  east  and  west  so  as  to  touch  the  most  southern  part  of 
Lake  Michigan,  and  from  that  line  draw  one  meridian  line  to 
the  western  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash,  and  another  to 
the  western  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  making 
three  states  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  western  lines  of 
Yirginia  and  Pennsylvania.  The  peninsula  of  Michigan  was 
to  form  a  fourth  state  ;  the  fifth  would  absorb  the  country  be- 
tween Lake  Michigan,  Lake  Superior,  and  the  line  of  water  to 
the  northern  boundary  in  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  on  the  one 
side  and  the  Mississippi  on  the  other.  This  division,  so  unfa- 
vorable to  southern  influence,  was  voted  for  by  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia, ISTorth  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  South  CaroHna  being  di- 
vided ;  the  North  did  not  give  one  state  in  its  favor ;  and  the 
motion  was  lost.  It  was  then  agreed  that  the  district  should 
ultimately  be  divided  at  least  into  three  states,  the  states  and 
individuals  being  unanimous,  except  that  Grayson  adhered  to 
his  preference  of  five."^ 

The  cause  which  arrested  the  progress  of  the  ordinance  of 
Monroe  was  a  jealousy  of  the  political  power  of  the  western 
states,  and  a  prevailing  desire  to  impede  their  admission  into 
the  union.  To  Jefferson  he  explained  with  accurate  foresight 
the  policy  toward  which  congress  was  drifting. 

When  the  inhabitants  of  the  Kaskaskias  presented  a  peti- 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  662,  663. 


1786-1787.    THE   COLONIAL  SYSTEM  OF  AMERICA.  281 

tion  for  the  organization  of  a  government  over  their  district, 
Monroe  took  part  in  the  answer,  that  congress  had  nnder  con- 
sideration the  plan  of  a  temporary  government  for  their  dis- 
trict in  which  it  would  manifest  a  due  regard  to  their  interest.* 
This  is  the  last  act  of  congress  relating  to  the  West  in  which 
Monroe  participated.  With  the  first  Monday  of  the  coming 
J^ovember  the  rule  of  rotation  would  exclude  him  from  con- 
gress. 

During  the  summer  Kean  was  absent  from  congress,  and 
his  place  on  the  committee  was  taken  by  Melancthon  Smith  f 
of  New  York.  In  September,  Monroe  and  King  went  on  a 
mission  from  Congress  to  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
their  places  were  filled  by  Henry  of  Maryland  and  Dane.  The 
committee  with  its  new  members  represented  the  ruling  senti- 
ment of  the  house ;  and  its  report,  which  was  made  on  the 
nineteenth  of  September,  required  of  a  western  state  before 
its  admission  into  the  union  a  population  equal  to  one  thir- 
teenth part  of  the  citizens  of  the  thirteen  original  states  ac- 
cording to  the  last  preceding  enumeration.  Had  this  report 
been  adopted,  and  had  the  decennial  census  of  the  population 
of  territories  and  states  alone  furnished  the  rule,  Ohio  must 
have  waited  twenty  years  longer  for  admission  into  the  union  ; 
Indiana  would  have  been  received  only  after  1850  ;  IIHnois 
only  after  18G0 ;  Michigan  could  not  have  asked  admittance 
till  after  the  census  of  1880 ;  and  after  that  census  Wisconsin 
must  still  have  remained  a  colonial  dependency. 

The  last  day  of  September  1786  was  given  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  report ;  but  before  anything  was  decided  the  sev- 
enth congress  expired. 

The  new  congress,  to  which  Madison  and  Eichard  Henry 
Lee,  as  well  as  Grayson  and  Edward  Carrington,  were  sent  by 
Yirginia,  had  no  quorum  till  February  1787,  and  then  was  oc- 
cupied with  preparations  for  the  federal  convention  and  with 
the  late  insurrection  in  Massachusetts.  But  the  necessity  of 
providing  for  a  territorial  government  was  urgent ;  and  near 
the  end  of  April  the  committee  of  the  late  congress  revived 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv,,  688,  689. 

f  The  name  of  Smith  as  one  of  the  committee  occurs  in  August  1*786.   Journals 
of  Congress,  iv.,  688. 


282  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.         b.  hi.  ;  oh.  vi. 

its  project  of  the  preceding  September.  On  the  ninth  of  May 
it  was  read  a  second  time ;  the  clause  which  would  have  indefi- 
nitely delayed  the  admission  of  a  w^estern  state  was  cancelled  ;  * 
a  new  draft  of  the  bill  as  amended  was  directed  to  be  tran- 
scribed, and  its  third  reading  was  made  the  order  of  the  next 
day,  t  when  of  a  sudden  the  further  progress  of  the  ordinance 
was  arrested. 

Kufus  Putnam,  of  Worcester  county,  Massachusetts,  who 
had  drawn  to  himself  the  friendly  esteem  of  the  commander- 
in-chief,  and  before  the  breaking  up  of  the  army  received  the 
commission  of  brigadier-general,  was  foremost  in  promoting  a 
petition  to  congress  of  ofiicers  and  soldiers  of  the  revolution 
for  leave  to  plant  a  colony  of  the  veterans  of  the  army  between 
Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio,  in  townships  of  six  miles  square,  with 
large  reservations  "  for  the  ministry  and  schools."  For  him- 
self and  his  associates  he  entreated  Washington  to  represent 
to  congress  the  strength  of  the  grounds  on  which  their  petition 
rested.  :j:  Their  unpaid  services  in  the  war  had  saved  the  in- 
dependence and  the  unity  of  the  land ;  their  settlement  would 
protect  the  frontiers  of  the  old  states  against  alarms  of  the  sav- 
ages ;  their  power  would  give  safety  along  the  boundary  line  on 
the  north ;  under  their  shelter  the  endless  procession  of  emi- 
grants would  take  up  its  march  to  fill  the  country  from  Lake 
Erie  to  the  Ohio. 

With  congress  while  it  was  at  Princeton,  and  again  after 
its  adjournment  to  Annapolis,  Washington  exerted  every  power 
of  which  he  was  master  to  bring  about  a  speedy  decision.  The 
members  with  whom  he  conversed  acquiesced  in  the  reasonable- 
ness of  the  petition  and  approved  its  policy,  but  they  excused 
their  inertness  by  the  want  of  a  cession  of  the  north-western 
lands. 

When,  in  March  1784,  the  lands  were  ceded  by  Virginia, 
Pufus  Putnam  again  appeals  to  Washington  :  "  You  are  sensi- 
ble of  the  necessity  as  well  as  the  possibility  of  both  ofiicers 
and  soldiers  fixing  themselves  in  business  somewhere  as  soon  as 

*  This  appears  from  the  erasures  on  the  printed  bill,  which  is  still  preserved. 

f  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  747. 

X  S.  p.  Hildreth,  Pioneer  Settlers  of  Ohio,  88.     Walker,  29.     Letter  of  Rufus 


1785-1787.    THE   COLONIAL   SYSTEM   OF   AMERICA.  283 

possible ;  many  of  tbem  are  unable  to  lie  long  on  tlieir  oars ; " 
but  congress  did  not  mind  the  spur.  In  tbe  next  year,  under 
the  land  ordinance  of  Grayson,  Rufus  Putnam  was  elected 
a  surveyor  of  land  in  the  western  territory  for  Massachu- 
setts ;  and  as  he  could  not  at  once  enter  on  the  service,  another 
brigadier-general,  Benjamin  Tupper  of  Chesterfield,  in  the 
same  state,  was  appointed  for  the  time  in  his  stead.*  Tupper 
repaired  to  the  West  to  superintend  the  work  confided  to  him ; 
but  disorderly  Indians  prevented  the  survey ;  without  having 
advanced  farther  west  than  Pittsburgh,  he  returned  home; 
and,  like  almost  every  one  who  caught  glimpses  of  the  West, 
he  returned  with  a  mind  filled  with  the  brightness  of  its 
promise. 

Toward  the  end  of  1T85,  Samuel  Ilolden  Parsons,  the  son 
of  a  clergyman  in  Lyme,  Connecticut,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
an  early  and  a  wise  and  resolute  patriot,  in  the  war  a  brigadier- 
general  of  the  regular  army,  travelled  to  tlie  West  on  public 
business,  descended  the  Ohio  as  far  as  its  falls,  and,  full  of  the 
idea  of  a  settlement  in  that  western  country,  wrote,  before  the 
year  went  out,  that  on  his  way  he  had  seen  no  place  which 
pleased  him  so  much  for  a  settlement  as  the  country  on  the 
Muskingum.f 

In  the  treaty  at  Fort  Stanwix,  in  1734,  the  Six  Nations  re- 
nounced to  the  United  States  all  claims  to  the  country  west  of 
the  Ohio.  A  treaty  of  January  1785,  with  the  Wyandotte, 
Delaware,  Chippewa,  and  Ottawa  nations,  released  the  country 
east  of  the  Cuyahoga,  and  all  the  lands  on  the  Ohio,  south 
of  the  line  of  portages  from  that  river  to  the  Great  Miami 
and  the  Maumee.  On  the  last  day  of  January  1786,  George 
Rogers  Clark,  the  conqueror  of  the  North- west,  Richard  Butler, 
late  a  colonel  in  the  army,  and  Samuel  Ilolden  Parsons,  acting 
under  commissions  from  the  United  States,  met  the  Shawnees 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  and  concluded  with  them  a 
treaty  by  which  they  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of  the 
United  States  over  all  their  territory  as  described  in  the  treaty 
of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  and  for  themselves  renounced  all 
claim  to  property  in  any  land  east   of  the  main  branch  of 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  520,  527,  547. 

f  William  Frederick  Poole  inN.  A.  Review,  liii.,  331. 


284  THE  FEDERAL  CONYEl^TIOJ^'.         b.  hi.  ;  ch.  vi. 

the  Great  Miami.*  In  tliis  way  the  Indian  title  to  southern 
Ohio,  and  all  Ohio  to  the  east  of  the  Cuyahoga,  was  quieted. 

Six  days  before  the  signature  of  the  treaty  with  the  Shaw- 
nees,  Kuf us  Putnam  and  Benjamin  Tupper,  after  a  careful  con- 
sultation at  the  house  of  Putnam,  in  Rutland,  pubHshed  in  the 
newspapers  of  Massachusetts  an  invitation  to  form  "  the  Ohio 
Company  "  for  purchasing  and  colonizing  a  large  tract  of  land 
between  the  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie.  The  men  chiefly  engaged 
in  this  enterprise  were  husbandmen  of  ISTew  England,  nurtured 
in  its  schools  and  churches,  laborious  and  methodical,  patriots 
who  had  been  further  trained  in  a  seven  years'  war  for  freedom. 
Have  these  men  the  creative  power  to  plant  a  commonwealth  ? 
And  is  a  republic  the  government  under  which  political  organi- 
zation for  great  ends  is  the  most  easy  and  the  most  perfect  ? 

To  bring  the  Ohio  company  into  formal  existence,  all  per- 
sons in  Massachusetts  who  wished  to  promote  the  scheme  were 
invited  to  meet  in  their  respective  counties  on  "Wednesday,  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  next  February,  and  choose  delegates  to 
meet  in  Boston  on  Wednesday,  the  first  day  of  March  1786, 
at  ten  of  the  clock,  then  and  there  to  consider  and  determine 
on  a  general  plan  of  association  for  the  company.  On  the  ap- 
pointed day  and  hour,  representatives  of  eight  counties  of 
Massachusetts  came  together ;  among  others,  from  "Worcester 
county,  Pufus  Putnam;  from  Suffolk,  Winthrop  Sargent; 
from  Essex,  Manasseh  Cutler,  lately  a  chaplain  in  the  army, 
then  minister  at  Ipswich ;  from  Middlesex,  John  Brooks ;  from 
Hampshire,  Benjamin  Tupper.  Eufus  Putnam  was  chosen 
chairman  of  the  meeting,  Winthrop  Sargent  its  secretary.  On 
the  third  of  March,  Putnam,  Cutler,  Brooks,  Sargent,  and 
Cushing,  its  regularly  appointed  committee,  reported  an  asso- 
ciation of  a  thousand  shares,  each  of  one  thousand  dollars  in 
continental  certificates,  which  were  then  the  equivalent  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  in  gold,  with  a  further  liability 
to  pay  ten  dollars  in  specie  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  agen- 
cies.    Men  might  join  together  and  subscribe  for  one  share. 

A  year  was  allowed  for  subscription.  At  its  end,  on  the 
eighth  of  March  1787,  a  meeting  of  the  subscribers  was  held 
at  Boston,  and  Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  Eufus  Putnam,  and 

*  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  vii.,  15,  16-18,  26. 


1787.  THE  COLONIAL  SYSTEM  OF  AMERICA.  285 

Manasseli  Cutler  were  cliosen  directors  to  make  application  to 
congress  for  a  purchase  of  lands  adequate  to  the  purposes  of 
the  company. 

The  basis  for  the  acquisition  of  a  vast  domain  was  settled 
by  the  directors,  and  Parsons  repaired  to  l^ew  York  to  bring 
the  subject  before  congress.  On  the  ninth  of  May  1787,  the 
same  day  on  which  the  act  for  the  government  of  the  North-west 
was  ordered  to  a  third  reading  on  the  morrow,  the  memorial  of 
Samuel  Holden  Parsons,  agent  of  the  associators  of  the  Ohio 
company,  bearing  date  only  of  the  preceding  day,  was  presented.* 
It  interested  every  one.  For  vague  hopes  of  colonization,  here 
stood  a  body  of  hardy  pioneers  ;  ready  to  lead  the  way  to  the 
rapid  absorption  of  the  domestic  debt  of  the  United  States ;  se- 
lected from  the  choicest  regiments  of  the  army  ;  capable  of  self- 
defence  ;  the  protectors  of  all  who  should  follow  them ;  men 
skilled  in  the  labors  of  the  field  and  of  artisans ;  enterprising 
and  laborious ;  trained  in  the  severe  morality  and  strict  ortho- 
doxy of  the  New  England  villages  of  that  day.  All  was 
changed.  There  was  the  same  difference  as  between  sending 
out  recruiting  officers  and  giving  marching  orders  to  a  regular 
corps  present  with  music  and  arms  and  banners.  On  the  in- 
stant the  memorial  was  referred  to  a  committee  consisting  of 
Edward  Carrington,  Eufus  King,  IN'athan  Dane,  Madison,  and 
Egbert  Benson — a  great  committee  :  its  older  members  of  con- 
gress having  worthy  associates  in  Carrington  and  Benson,  of 
whom  nothing  was  spoken  but  in  praise  of  their  faultless  in- 
tegrity and  rightness  of  intention. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  July  1787,  for  the  first  time  since  the 
eleventh  of  May,  congress  had  a  quorum.  There  were  present 
from  the  North,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  ; 
from  the  South,  Virginia,  the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  soon 
to  be  joined  by  Delaware.  The  South  had  all  in  its  own  way. 
The  president  of  congress  being  absent,  "William  Grayson  of 
Virginia  was  elected  the  temporary  president. 

■^"  The  memorial  of  Parsons  is  in  his  own  handwriting.  It  is  contained  in  vol. 
xli.  of  Papers  of  the  Old  Congress,  vol.  viii.,  226,  of  the  Memorials.  It  is  indorsed 
in  the  handwriting  of  Roger  Alden,  "  Memorial  of  Samuel  II.  Parsons,  agent  of  the 
associators  for  the  purchase  of  lands  on  the  Ohio.  Read  May  ninth  1181.  Re- 
ferred  to  Mr.  Carrington,  :Mr.  King,  Mr.  Dane,  Mr.  Madison,  Mr.  Benson.  Acted 
on  July  23,  1181.    See  committee  book." 


286  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.    b.  iii.  ;  ch.  vi. 

On  Friday,  the  fifth,  there  was  no  quorum.  In  the  even- 
ing arriyed  Manasseh  Cutler,  one  of  the  three  agents  of  the 
Ohio  company,  sent  to  complete  the  negotiations  for  western 
lands.  On  liis  way  to  J^ew  York,  Cutler  had  visited  Parsons, 
his  fellow-director,  and  now  acted  in  full  concert  with  him. 
Carrington  gave  the  new  envoy  a  cordial  welcome,  introduced 
him  to  members  on  the  floor  of  congress,  devoted  immediate 
attention  to  his  proposals,  and  abeady,  on  the  tenth  of  July, 
his  report  granting  to  the  Ohio  company  all  that  they  desired 
was  read  in  congress.* 

This  report,  which  is  entirely  in  the  handwriting  of  Edward 
Carrington,  assigns  as  gifts  a  lot  for  the  maintenance  of  public 
schools  in  every  township ;  another  lot  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  four  complete  townships,  "  which  shall  be  good  land, 
and  near  the  centre,"  for  the  purpose  of  a  university.  The  land, 
apart  from  the  gifts,  might  be  paid  for  in  loan -office  certificates 
reduced  to  specie  value  or  certificates  of  liquidated  debts  of  the 
United  States.  For  bad  land,  expenses  of  surveying,  and  in- 
cidental circumstances,  the  whole  allowance  was  not  to  exceed 
one  third  of  a  dollar  an  acre.  The  price,  therefore,  was  about 
sixty-six  cents  and  two  thirds  for  every  acre,  in  United  States 
certificates  of  debt.  But  as  these  were  then  worth  only  twelve 
cents  on  the  dollar,  the  price  of  land  in  specie  was  between 
eight  and  nine  cents  an  acre. 

On  the  ninth  of  July,  Eichard  Henry  Lee  took  his  seat  in 
congress.  His  presence  formed  an  era.  On  that  same  day  the 
report  for  framing  a  western  government,  which  was  to  have 
had  its  third  reading  on  the  tenth  of  May,  was  referred  to  a 
new  committee  t  of  seven,  composed  of  Edward  Carrington 

*  The  business  of  congress  was  done  with  closed  doors  and  with  rigid  secrecy. 
Hence  some  slight  misconceptions  in  the  journal  of  Cutler.  N.  A.  Review,  liii., 
334,  etc.  He  says  that  on  July  sixth  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  his 
proposal.  The  committee  was  appointed  not  on  July  sixth,  but  on  the  ninth 
of  May,  and  was  not  changed.  Its  report  is  to  be  found  in  vol.  v.  of  the  Reports 
of  Committees,  and  in  Old  Papers  of  Congress,  xix.,  27.  The  report  is  in  the 
handwriting  of  Edward  Carrington,  and  by  his  own  hand  is  indorsed ;  "  Report  of 
Committee  on  Memorial  of  S.  H.  Parsons."  Mr.  Thomson's  hand  indorses  fur- 
ther :  "  Report  of  Mr.  Carrington,  Mr.  King,  Mr.  Dane,  Mr.  Madison,  Mr.  Benson. 
Read  July  10th,  1787.  Order  of  the  day  for  the  eleventh."  On  what  day  it 
was  presented  is  not  recorded. 

f  In  the  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  751,  for  the  lltb  of  July,  mention  is  made 


1787.  THE  COLONIAL  SYSTEM  OF  AMERICA.  287 

and  Dane,  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  Kean  of  Soutli  Carolina,  and 
Melancthon  Smith  of  New  York.  There  were  then  in  con- 
gress five  southern  states  to  three  of  the  JS^orth ;  on  the  com- 
mittee two  northern  men  to  three  from  the  South,  of  whom  the 
two  ablest  were  Virginians. 

The  committee,  animated  by  the  j^resence  of  Lee,  went  to 
its  work  in  good  earnest.  Dane,  who  had  been  actively  em- 
ployed on  the  colonial  government  for  more  than  a  year,  and 
for  about  ten  months  had  served  on  the  committee  which  had 
the  subject  in  charge,  acted  the  part  of  scribe.  Like  Smith 
and  Lee,  he  had  opposed  a  federal  convention  for  the  reform 
of  the  constitution.  The  three  agreed  very  well  together, 
though  Dane  secretly  harbored  the  wish  of  finding  in  the  West 
an  ally  for  "  eastern  politics."  They  were  pressed  for  time, 
and  found  it  necessary  finally  to  adopt  the  best  system  they 
could  get.  At  first  they  took  up  the  plan  reported  by  Mon- 
roe ;  but  new  ideas  were  started  ;  and  they  worked  with  so 
much  industry  that  on  the  eleventh  of  July  their  report  of  an 
ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  north-west  of  the  river  Ohio  was  read  for  its  first  time 
in  congress. 

The  ordinance  imbodied  the  best  parts  of  the  work  of  their 
predecessors.  For  the  beginning  they  made  the  whole  north- 
western territory  one  district,  of  which  all  the  officers  appointed 
by  congress  were  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  as  well  as  of  office. 
Jefferson,  in  his  ordinance  for  the  sale  of  lands,  had  taken  care 
for  the  equal  descent  of  real  estate,  as  well  as  other  property, 
to  children  of  both  sexes.  This  was  adopted  and  expressed  in 
the  forms  of  the  laws  of  Massachusetts.  The  rule  of  Jefferson 
was  followed  in  requiring  no  property  qualification  for  an  elect- 
or ;  but  was  not  extended,  as  Jefferson  had  done,  to  the  officers 
to  be  elected. 

The  committee  then  proceeded  to  establish  articles  of  com- 
pact, not  to  be  repealed  except  by  the  consent  of  the  original 
states  and  the  people  and  states  in  the  territory.     Among  these, 

that  the  report  of  a  committee  touching  the  temporary  government  for  the  west- 
ern territory  had  been  referred  to  the  committee.  I  find  an  indorsement  in  the 
State  Department  on  one  of  the  papers  that  the  day  on  which  that  reference  was 
made  was  July  ninth. 


288  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  vi. 

as  in  Massacliusetts  and  Virginia,  were  freedom  of  religions 
worship  and  of  religions  thought ;  and  various  articles  from 
the  usual  bills  of  rights  of  the  states. 

The  next  clause  bears  in  every  word  the  impress  of  the 
mind  of  Richard  Henry  Lee.  "  No  law  ought  ever  to  be  made 
in  said  territory  that  shall  in  any  manner  whatever  interfere 
with  or  conflict  with  private  contracts  or  engagements,  honafide 
and  without  fraud  previously  formed."  This  regulation  re- 
lated particularly  to  the  abuse  of  paper  money.* 

The  third  article  recognised,  like  the  constitution  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  like  the  letter  of  Rufus  Putnam  of  1783,t  that 
religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  are  necessary  to  good  govern- 
ment and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  and  declared  that  schools 
and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged. 

The  utmost  good  faith  was  enjoined  toward  the  Indians ; 
their  lands  and  property,  their  rights  and  liberty,  were  ordered 
to  be  protected  by  laws  founded  in  justice  and  humanity  ;  so 
that  peace  and  friendship  with  them  might  ever  be  preserved. 

The  new  states,  by  compact  which  neither  party  alone 
could  change,  became,  and  were  forever  to  remain,  a  part  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  The  waters  leading  into  the 
Mississippi  and  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  carrying  places  between 
them,  according  to  the  successful  motion  of  Grayson  and  King, 
were  made  common  highways  and  forever  free.  The  whole 
territory  was  divided  into  three  states  only,  the  population  re- 
quired for  the  admission  of  any  one  of  them  to  the  union  was 
fixed  at  sixty  thousand ;  but  both  these  clauses  were  subject  to 
the  future  judgment  of  congress.     The  prayer  of  the  Ohio 

*  "  Cette  disposition  porte  particulieremcnt  sur  I'abus  du  papier  monnaie." 
Otto  to  Montmorin,  successor  of  Vergennes  at  Versailles,  20  July  1787.  R.  H. 
Lee  to  George  Mason,  Chantilly,  15  May  1787.  Life  of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  ii., 
71-73,  Lee  hated  paper  money,  and  therefore  had  entreated  his  friends  in  the 
convention  at  Philadelphia  to  take  from  the  states  the  right  of  issuing  it.  More- 
over, he  piqued  himself  upon  the  originality  of  his  suggestion :  "  a  proposition 
that  I  have  not  heard  mentioned."  Compare  Lee  to  Washington,  in  Sparks's  Let- 
ters  to  Washington,  iv.,  174.  More  than  forty-two  years  later  Dane  claimed  for 
himself  "  originality  "  in  regard  to  the  clause  against  impairing  contracts  [Mas- 
sachusetts Historical  Society  Proceedings,  1867  to  1869,  p.  479],  but  contemporary 
evidence  points  to  R.  H.  Lee  as  one  with  whom  he  must  at  least  divide  the 
honor. 

\  The  proposals  presented  by  Cutler  arc  in  the  handwriting  of  Parsons. 


1787.  THE   COLONIAL   SYSTEM   OF   AMERICA.  289 

company  had  been  but  tliis :  "  The  settlers  shall  be  under  the 
immediate  government  of  congress  in  such  mode  and  for  such 
time  as  congress  shall  judge  proper ; "  the  ordinance  contained 
no  allusion  to  slavery ;  and  in  that  form  it  received  its  first 
reading  and  was  ordered  to  be  printed. 

Grayson,  then  the  presiding  ofiicer  of  congress,  had  always 
opposed  slavery.  Two  years  before  he  had  wished  success  to 
the  attempt  of  King  for  its  restriction ;  and  everything  points 
to  him  *  as  the  immediate  cause  of  the  tranquil  spirit  of  dis- 
interested statesmanship  which  took  possession  of  every  south- 
ern man  in  the  assembly.  Of  the  members  of  Yirginia, 
Richard  Henry  Lee  had  stood  against  Jefferson  on  this  very 
question  ;  but  now  he  acted  with  Grayson,  and  from  the  states 
of  which  no  man  had  yielded  before,  every  one  chose  the  part 
which  was  to  bring  on  their  memory  the  benedictions  of  all 
coming  ages.  Obeying  an  intimation  from  the  South,  Nathan 
Dane  copied  from  Jefferson  the  prohibition  of  involuntary 
servitude  in  the  territory,  and  quieted  alarm  by  adding  from  the 
report  of  King  a  clause  for  the  delivering  up  of  the  fugitive 
slave.  This  at  the  second  reading  of  the  ordinance  he  moved 
as  a  sixth  article  of  compact,  and,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  July 
1787,  the  great  statute  forbidding  slavery  to  cross  the  river 
Ohio  was  passed  by  the  vote  of  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North 
Carolina,  Virginia,  Delaware,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and 
Massachusetts,  all  the  states  that  were  then  present  in  congress. 
Pennsylvania  and  three  states  of  New  England  were  absent ; 

*  William  Grayson  voted  for  King's  motion  of  reference,  by  which  the  prohi- 
bition of  slavery  was  to  be  immediate  ;  he  expressed  the  hope  that  congress  would 
be  liberal  enough  to  adopt  King's  motion  ;  he  gave,  more  than  any  other  man  in 
congress,  efficient  attention  to  the  territorial  questions  ;  in  1785  he  framed  and 
carried  through  congress  an  ordinance  for  the  sale  of  western  lands  ;  his  influence 
as  president  of  congress  was  great ;  his  record  as  against  slavery  is  clearer  than 
that  of  any  other  southern  man  who  was  present  in  1787.  The  assent  of  Virginia 
being  requisite  to  the  validity  of  the  ordinance,  he  entreated  Monroe  to  obtain 
tliat  consent.  The  consent  was  not  obtained.  Though  in  shattered  health,  he 
then  became  a  member  of  the  next  Virginia  legislature,  and  was  conspicuous  in 
obtaining  the  assent  of  Virginia.  Add  to  this  in  the  debate  on  excluding  slavery 
from  the  territory  of  Arkansas,  Hugh  Nelson  of  Virginia  was  quoted  as  having 
ascribed  the  measure  to  Grayson.  Austin  Scott  fell  upon,  and  was  so  good  as  to 
point  out  to  me,  this  passage  in  Annals  of  Congress  for  February  1819,  column 
1225.  Thus  far  no  direct  report  of  Nelson's  speech  has  been  found. 
VOL.   TI. — 19 


290  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  iii.  ;  en.  vi. 

Maryland  only  of  the  South.  Of  the  eighteen  members  of 
congress  who  answered  to  their  names,  every  one  said  "  aye  " 
excepting  Abraham  Yates  the  yonnger  of  New  York,  who  in- 
sisted on  leaving  to  all  future  ages  a  record  of  his  want  of  good 
judgment,  right  feeling,  and  common  sense. 

Thomas  Jefferson  first  summoned  congress  to  prohibit  slav- 
ery in  all  the  territory  of  the  United  States  ;  Euf us  King  lifted 
up  the  measure  when  it  lay  almost  lifeless  on  the  ground,  and 
suggested  the  immediate  instead  of  the  prospective  prohibition  ; 
a  congress  composed  of  fi.ve  southern  states  to  one  from  ]New 
England,  and  two  from  the  middle  states,  headed  by  "William 
Grayson,  supported  by  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  and  using  Nathan 
Dane  as  scribe,  carried  the  measure  to  the  goal  in  the  amended 
form  in  which  King  had  caused  it  to  be  referred  to  a  committee ; 
and,  as  Jefferson  had  proposed,  placed  it  under  the  sanction 
of  an  irrevocable  compact.* 

The  ordinance  being  passed,  the  terms  of  a  sale  between 
the  United  States  and  Manasseh  Cutler  and  Winthrop  Sargent, 
as  agents  of  the  Ohio  company,  were  rapidly  brought  to  a 
close,  substantially  on  the  basis  of  the  report  of  Carrington.f 

The  occupation  of  the  purchased  lands  began  immediately, 
and  proceeded  with  the  order,  courage,  and  regularity  of  men 
accustomed  to  the  discipline  of  soldiers.  '^  'No  colony  in 
America,"  said  Washington  in  his  joy,  "  was  ever  settled  un- 
der such  favorable  auspices  as  that  which  has  just  commenced 
at  the  Muskingum.  Information,  property,  and  strength  will 
be  its  characteristics.  I  know  many  of  the  settlers  personally, 
and  there  never  were  men  better  calculated  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  such  a  community."  :J:  Before  a  year  had  passed  by, 
free  labor  kejDt  its  sleepless  watch  on  the  Ohio. 

But  this  was  not  enough.  Virginia  had  retained  the  right 
to  a  very  large  tract  north-west  of  the  Ohio ;  and  should  she 
consent  that  her  own  sons  should  be  forbidden  to  cross  the 
river  with  their  slaves  to  her  own  lands  ? 

It  was  necessary  for  her  to  give  her  consent  before  the  or- 
dinance  could  be  secure ;   and  Grayson  earnestly  entreated 

*  Nathan  Dane  to  Rufiis  King,  16  July  llSI. 

f  Compare  Carrington's  report  with  its  amended  form  in  Journals  of  Con 
gress,  iv.,  Appendix  17.  t  Sparks,  ix.,  385. 


1787.  THE   COLONIAL   SYSTEM   OF  AMERICA.  291 

Monroe  to  gain  that  consent  before  the  year  should  go  out. 
But  Monroe  was  not  equal  to  the  task,  and  nothing  was  accom- 
plished. 

At  the  next  election  of  the  assembly  of  Yirginia,  Grayson, 
who  was  not  a  candidate  in  the  preceding  or  the  following 
year,  was  chosen  a  delegate ;  and  then  a  powerful  committee, 
on  which  were  Carrington,  Monroe,  Edmund  Eandolph,  and 
Grayson,  successfully  brought  forward  the  bill  by  which  Yir- 
ginia confirmed  the  ordinance  for  the  colonization  of  all  the 
territory  then  in  the  possession  of  the  United  States  by  free- 
men alone. 

The  white  men  of  that  day  everywhere  held  themselves 
bound  to  respect  and  protect  the  black  men  in  their  liberty 
and  property.  The  suffrage  was  not  as  yet  regarded  as  a  right 
incident  to  manhood,  and  could  be  extended  only  according  to 
the  judgment  of  those  who  were  found  in  possession  of  it. 
When  in  1785  an  act  providing  for  the  gradual  abolition  of 
slavery  within  the  state  of  'New  York,  while  it  placed  the  chil- 
dren born  of  slaves  in  the  rank  of  citizens,  deprived  them  of 
the  privileges  of  electors,  the  council  of  revision,  Clinton  and 
Sloss  Hobart  being  present,  and  adopting  the  report  of  Chan- 
cellor Livingston,  negatived  the  act,  because,  "  in  violation  of 
the  rules  of  justice  and  against  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  con- 
stitution," it  disfranchised  the  black,  mulatto,  and  mustee  citi- 
zens who  had  heretofore  been  entitled  to  a  vote.  The  veto 
prevailed ;  ^  and  in  the  state  of  New  York  the  colored  man 
retained  his  impartial  right  of  suffrage  till  the  constitution  of 
1821.  Yirginia,  which  continued  to  recognise  free  negroes  as 
citizens,  in  the  session  in  which  it  sanctioned  the  north-western 
ordinance,  enacted  that  any  person  who  should  be  convicted 
of  stealing  or  selling  any  free  person  for  a  slave  shall  suffer 
death  without  benefit  of  clergy. f  This  was  the  protection 
which  Yirginia,  when  the  constitution  was  forming,  extended 
to  the  black  man. 

*  Street's  New  York  Couucil  of  iievisiou,  268,  2G9.  f  Heniag,  xii.,  531 


292  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.         b.  hi.  ;  en.  vii. 


CHAPTER  yil. 

the  constitution  in  detail.     the  powers  of  congeess. 
6  August  to  10  September  1787. 

The  twentj-tliree  resolutions  of  the  convention  were  dis- 
tributed by  the  committee  of  detail  into  as  many  articles,  which 
included  new  subjects  of  the  gravest  moment.  On  the  sixth 
of  August  1787  every  member  of  the  convention  received  a 
copy  of  this  draft  of  a  constitution,  printed  on  broadsides  in 
large  type,  with  wide  spaces  and  margin  for  minutes  of  amend- 
ments.* The  experience  of  more  than  two  months  had  in- 
spired its  members  with  the  courage  and  the  disposition  to 
make  still  bolder  grants  of  power  to  the  union. 

The  instrument  f  opens  with  the  sublime  words :  "  We,  the 
people  of  the  states,"  enumerating  JNew  Hampshire  and  every 
other  of  the  thirteen,  "  do  ordain,  declare,  and  establish  the 
following  constitution  for  the  government  of  ourselves  and  our 
posterity."  X 

When  in  1776  "  tlie  good  people  "  of  thirteen  colonies,  each 
having  an  organized  separate  home  government,  and  each 
hitherto  forming  an  integral  part  of  one  common  empire, 
jointly  prepared  to  declare  themselves  free  and  independent 
states,  it  was  their  first  care  to  ascertain  of  whom  they  were 
composed.     The  question  they  agreed  to  investigate  and  decide 

*  Of  these  copies  six  have  been  examined,  including  that  of  the  president  of 
the  convention,  and,  as  is  believed,  that  of  its  secretary. 

f  Gilpin,  1226;  Elliot,  376. 

i  "  We  the  people  of  Massachusetts — do — ordain  and  establish  the  following 
—constitution  of  civil  government  for  ourselves  and  posterity."  Preamble  to  the 
first  constitution  of  Massachusetts. 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  293 

by  a  joint  act  of  tliem  all.  For  this  end  congress  selected  from 
its  numbers  five  of  its  ablest  jurists  and  most  trusted  states- 
men :  Jolm  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  Thomas  Jefferson  of  Vir- 
ginia, Edward  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina,  James  Wilson  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  Robert  R.  Livingston  of  'New  York ;  the 
fairest  representation  that  could  have  been  made  of  New  Eng- 
land, of  the  South,  and  of  the  central  states.  The  committee 
thought  not  of  embarrassing  themselves  with  the  introduction 
of  any  new  theory  of  citizenship ;  they  looked  solely  for  exist- 
ing facts.  They  found  colonies  with  well-known  territorial 
boundaries ;  and  inhabitants  of  the  territory  of  each  colony ; 
and  their  unanimous  report,  unanimously  accepted  by  congress, 
was :  "  All  persons  abiding  within  any  of  the  United  Colonies,  ' 
and  deriving  protection  from  the  laws  of  the  same,  owe  allegi- 
ance to  the  said  laws,  and  are  members  of  such  colony."  * 
From  "  persons  making  a  visitation  or  temporary  stay,"  only  a 
secondary  allegiance  was  held  to  be  due. 

When  the  articles  of  confederation  w^ere  framed  with  the 
grand  principle  of  intercitizenship,  which  gave  to  the  Ameri- 
can confederation  a  superiority  over  every  one  that  preceded  r 
it,  the  same  definition  of  membership  of  the  community  was  >r 
repeated,  except  that  intercitizenshij)  was  not  extended  to  the 
pauper,  or  the  vagabond,  or  the  fugitive  from  justice,  or  the 
slave.  And  now  these  free  inhabitants  of  every  one  of  the 
United  States,  this  collective  people,  proclaim  their  common 
intention,  by  their  own  innate  life,  to  institute  a  general  gov- 
ernment. 

For  the  name  of  the  government  they  chose  "  The  United 
States  of  America  " ;  words  which  expressed  unity  in  plural- 
ity and  being  endeared  by  usage  were  preferred  to  any  new 
description. 

That  there  might  be  no  room  to  question  where  paramount 
allegiance  would  be  due,  the   second  article  declared :  "  The    ^ 
government  shall  consist  of  supreme  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  powers."  f 

To  maintain  that  supremacy,  the  legislature  of  the  United  7 
States  was  itself  authorized  to  carry  into  execution  all  powers 
vested  by  this  new  constitution  in  the  government  of  the  Unit- 

*  Journals  of  Congress  for  5,  17,  and  24  June  17V6.     f  Gilpin,  1226  ;  Elliot,  377. 


J 


V 


^ 


294  THE   FEDERAL  CONVENTION".         b.  iii. ;  ch.  vii. 

ed  States,  or  in  any  of  its  departments  or  offices.*  The  name 
congress  was  adopted  to  mark  the  two  branches  of  the  legisla- 
ture, which  were  now  named  the  house  of  representatives  and 
the  senate ;  the  house  still  taking  precedence  as  the  first  branch. 
The  executive  was  henceforward  known  as  "  the  President." 
r  The  scheme  of  erecting  a  general  government  on  the  au- 
\  thoritj  of  the  state  legislatures  was  discarded ;  and  the  states 
were  enjoined  to  prescribe  for  the  election  of  the  members  of 
each  branch  regulations  subject  to  be  altered  by  the  legislature 
of  the  United  States  ;  but  the  convention  itself,  in  its  last  days, 
unanimously  reserved  to  the  states  alone  the  right  to  establish 
the  places  for  choosing  senators. f 

To  ensure  the  continuous  succession  of  the  government,  the 
legislature  was  ordered  to  meet  on  the  first  Monday  in  Decem- 
ber in  every  year,  %  "  unless,"  added  the  convention,  "  congress 
should  by  law  appoint  a  different  day." 

To  complete  the  independence  of  congress,  provision  needed 
to  be  made  for  the  supj)ort  of  its  members.  The  committee  of 
detail  left  them  to  be  paid  for  their  services  by  their  respective 
states ;  but  this  mode  would  impair  the  self-sustaining  charac- 
ter of  the  government.  Ellsworth,  avowing  a  change  of  opin- 
ion, moved  that  they  should  be  paid  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States.*  "  If  the  general  legislature,"  said  Dickinson, 
"  should  be  left  dependent  on  the  state  legislatures,  it  would 
be  happy  for  us  if  we  had  never  met  in  this  room."  The  mo- 
tion of  Ellsworth  was  carried  by  nine  states  against  Massachu- 
setts and  South  Carolina.  ||  The  compensation  which  he  and 
Sherman  would  have  fixed  at  five  dollars  a  day,  and  the  same 
for  every  thirty  miles  of  travel,  was  left  ''  to  be  ascertained  by 
law."  ^ 

In  the  distribution  of  representatives  among  the  states  no 
change  was  made ;  but  to  the  rule  of  one  member  of  the  house 
for  every  forty  thousand  inhabitants  Madison  objected  that  in 
the  coming  increase  of  population  it  would  render  the  number 
excessive.     "  The  government,"  replied   Gorham,   "  will  not 

*  Gilpin,  1233  ;  Elliot,  379. 

f  Gilpin,  1229,  1279,  1281,  1232,  1548,  1608  ;  Elliot,  377,  401,  402,  559. 
X  Gilpin,  1227  ;  Elliot,  377.  *  Gilpin,  931,  1326  ;  Elliot,  226,  425. 

I  Gilpin,  1329  ;  Elliot,  427.  ^  Gilpin,  1330 ;  Elliot,  427. 


1787.  THE  POWERS   OF  OOJirGRESS.  295 

last  so  long  as  to  produce  tliis  effect.  Can  it  be  supposed  that 
this  vast  country,  including  the  western  territory,  will  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  hence  remain  one  nation  ?  "  '^  The  clause 
was  for  the  time  unanimously  made  to  read :  "  not  exceeding 
one  for  every  forty  thousand." 

As  the  first  qualification  for  membership  of  the  legislature, 
it  was  agreed,  and  it  so  remains,  that  the  candidate  at  the  time 
of  his  election  should  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  state  in  which  he 
should  be  chosen.  It  is  not  required  that  a  representative 
should  reside  in  the  district  which  he  may  be  elected  to  repre- 
sent. 

Citizenship  was  indispensable ;  and,  before  a  comer  from  a 
foreign  country  could  be  elected  to  the  house,  he  must,  accord- 
ing to  the  report,  have  been  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  for 
at  least  three  years ;  before  eligibility  to  the  senate,  for  at  least 
four.  "  I  do  not  choose,"  s^id^Mason,  "  to  let  foreigners  and 
adventurers  make  laws  for  us  and  govern  us  without  that  local 
knowledge  which  ought  to  be  possessed  by  the  representative." 
And  he  moved  for  seven  years  instead  of  three.f  To  this  all 
the  states  agreed  except  Connecticut. 

From  respect  to  Wilson,  who  was  born  and  educated  in 
Scotland,  the  subject  was  taken  up  once  more.  Gerry,  on  the 
thirteenth,  wished  none  to  be  elected  but  men  born  in  the 
land.  Williamson  preferred  a  residence  of  nine  years  to 
seven.  :j:  Hamilton  proposed  to  require  only  citizenship  and 
inhabitancy,*  and  Madison  seconded  him.  In  proof  of  the 
advantage  of  encouraging  emigration,  Wilson  cited  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  youngest  settlement  on  the  Atlantic  except  Georgia, 
yet  among  the  foremost  in  population  and  prosperity ;  almost 
all  the  general  ofiicers  of  her  line  in  the  late  army  and  three  of 
her  deputies  to  the  convention — Bobert  Morris,  Fitzsimons, 
and  himself — were  not  natives.  ||  But  Connecticut,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  and  Virginia,  which  voted  with  Hamilton 
and  Madison,  were  overpowered  by  the  seven  other  states,  of 
which,  on  this  question,  New  Hampshire,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia  were  the  most  stubborn.^ 

*  Gilpin,  1263  ;  Elliot,  392.  #  Gilpin,  1299,  1300  ;  Elliot,  411. 

f  Gilpin,  1256,  1257  ;  Elliot,  389.         ||  Gilpin,  1300,  1301  ;  Elliot,  412. 
i  Gilpin,  1299  ;  Elliot,  411.  ^  Gilpin,  1301  ;  Elliot,  412. 


296  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTIOX.    b.  m. ;  en.  vii. 

Goiiverneur  Morris  desired  that  tlie  proviso  of  seven  years 
should  not  affect  any  person  then  a  citizen.  On  this  candid 
motion  'New  Jersey  joined  the  four  more  liberal  states ;  but 
Rutledge,  Charles  Pinckney,  Mason,  and  Baldwin  spoke  with 
inveterate  tenacity  for  the  disfranchisement  against  Gorham, 
Madison,  Morris,  and  Wilson ;  and  the  motion  was  lost  by  five 
states  to  six."^ 

For  a  senator,  citizenship  for  nine  years  was  required; 
Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland  alone  finding  the 
number  of  years  excessive.f  Three  days  later,  power  was 
vested  in  the  legislature  of  the  United  States  to  establish  a  uni- 
form rule  of  naturalization  throughout  the  United  States.  :j; 

The  committee  of  detail  had  evaded  the  question  of  a  prop- 
erty qualification  for  the  members  of  the  federal  legislature 
and  other  branches  of  the  government  by  referring  it  to  legis- 
lative discretion.  Charles  Pinckney,  who  wished  to  require 
for  the  president  a  fortune  of  not  less  than  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  for  a  judge  half  as  much,  and  a  like  proportion  for  the 
members  of  the  national  legislature,  ventured  no  more  than  to 
move  generally  that  a  property  qualification  should  be  required 
of  them  all.*  Franklin  made  answer :  "  I  dislike  everything 
that  tends  to  debase  the  spirit  of  the  common  people.  If 
honesty  is  often  the  companion  of  wealth,  and  if  poverty  is 
exposed  to  peculiar  temptation,  the  possession  of  property 
Increases  the  desire  for  more.  Some  of  the  greatest  rogues  I 
was  ever  acquainted  with  were  the  richest  rogues.  Kemember, 
the  scripture  requires  in  rulers  that  they  should  be  men  hating 
covetousness.  If  this  constitution  should  betray  a  great  par- 
(  tiality  to  the  rich,  it  will  not  only  hurt  us  in  the  esteem  of  the 
\  most  liberal  and  enlightened  men  in  Europe,  but  discourage 
]the  common  people  from  removing  to  this  country."  ||  The 
^motion  was  rejected  by  a  general  "no."  The  question  was  for 
/  a  while  left  open,  but  the  constitution  finally  escaped  without 
,■  imposing  a  property  qualification  on  any  person  in  the  public 
^  employ. 

Various  efforts  were  made  by  Gorham,  Mercer,  King,  and 

*  Gilpin,  1301-1305  ;  Elliot,  412-414.         #  Gilpin,  1283,  1284 ;  Elliot,  402,  403. 
t  Gilpin,  1305  ;  Elliot,  414.  |  Gilpin,  1284,  1285 ;  Elliot,  403. 

X  Elliot,  i.,  245. 


1787.  THE  POWERS   OF  CONGRESS.  297 

Gouverneur  Morris  to  follow  the  precedent  of  the  British  par- 
liament, and  constitute  a  less  number  than  a  majority  in  each 
house  sufficient  for  a  quorum,  lest  the  secession  of  a  few  mem- 
bers should  fatally  interrupt  the  course  of  public  business. 
But,  by  the  exertions  of  Wilson  and  Ellsworth,  Randolph  and 
Madison,  power  was  all  but  unanimously  given  to  each  branch 
to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members,  in  such  manner 
and  under  such  penalties  as  each  house  might  provide.  More- 
over, each  house  received  the  power,  unknown  to  the  confed- 
eracy, to  expel  a  member  with  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds 
of  those  voting.* 

What  should  distinguish  the  "electors"  of  the  United 
States  from  their  citizens  ?  the  constituency  of  the  house  of 
representatives  of  the  United  States  from  the  people  ?  The 
report  of  the  committee  ran  thus :  "  The  qualifications  of  the 
electors  shall  be  the  same,  from  time  to  time,  as  those  of  the 
electors  in  the  several  states  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of 
their  own  legislatures."  f  Gouverneur  Morris  desired  to  re- 
strain the  right  of  suffrage  to  freeholders ;  and  he  thought  it 
not  proper  that  the  quahfications  of  the  national  legislature 
should  depend  on  the  will  of  the  states.  "  The  states,"  said 
Ellsworth,  "  are  the  best  judges  of  the  circumstances  and  tem- 
per of  their  own  people."  :j:  "  Eight  or  nine  states,"  remarked 
Mason,  "'have  extended  the  right  of  suffrage  beyond  the  free- 
holders. What  will  the  people  there  say  if  any  should  be 
disfranchised  ? "  *  "'  Abridgments  of  the  right  of  suffrage," 
declared  Butler,  "tend  to  revolution."  "The  freeholders  of 
the  country,"  replied  Dickinson,  "  are  the  best  guardians  of 
liberty ;  and  the  restriction  of  the  right  to  them  is  a  necessary 
defence  against  the  dangerous  influence  of  those  multitudes 
without  property  and  without  principle,  ^^dth  which  our  coun- 
try, like  all  others,  will  in  time  abound.  As  to  the  unpopu- 
larity of  the  innovation,  it  is  chimerical.  The  great  mass  of 
our  citizens  is  composed  at  this  time  of  freeholders,  and  will 
be  pleased  with  it."  "  Ought  not  every  man  who  pays  a  tax," 
asked  Ellsworth,  "  to  vote  for  the  representative  who  is  to  levy 
and  dispose  of  his  money  ?  "  1     "  The  time,"  said  Gouverneur 

*  Gilpin,  1291  ;  Elliot,  407.  f  Gilpin,  1227  ;  Elliot,  377. 

i  Gilpin,  1250;  Elliot,  386.  ^  Ibid.         |  Gilpin,  1251  ;  Elliot,  386. 


t 


% 


THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.         b.  iii.  ;  ch.  vn. 

Morris,  "is  not  distant  wlien  tliis  country  will  abound  with 
mechanics  and  manufacturers,  who  will  receive  their  bread 
from  their  employers.  Will  such  men  be  the  secure  and  faith- 
ful guardians  of  hbertj — the  impregnable  barrier  against  aris- 
tocracy? The  ignorant  and  the  dependent  can  be  as  little 
trusted  with  the  public  interest  as  children.  Mne  tenths  of 
the  people  are  at  present  freeholders,  and  these  will  certainly 
be  pleased  with  the  restriction."  ^  "  The  true  idea,"  said  Ma- 
son, "  is  that  every  man  having  evidence  of  attachment  to  the 
society,  and  permanent  common  interest  with  it,  ought  to  share 
in  all  its  rights  and  privileges."  "  In  several  of  the  states," 
said  Madison,  "  a  freehold  is  now  the  qualification.  Yiewing 
the  subject  in  its  merits  alone,  the  freeholders  of  the  country 
would  be  the  safest  depositories  of  republican  liberty.  In 
future  times,  a  great  majority  of  the  people  will  not  only  be 
without  property  in  land,  but  property  of  any  sort.  These 
will  either  combine  under  the  influence  of  their  common  situa- 
tion, in  which  case  the  rights  of  property  and  the  public  lib- 
erty will  not  be  secure  in  their  hands,  or,  what  is  more  proba- 
ble, they  will  become  the  tools  of  opulence  and  ambition ;  in 
w^hich  case  there  will  be  equal  danger  on  another  side."  f 
Franklin  reasoned  against  the  restriction  from  the  nobleness 
of  character  that  the  possession  of  the  electoral  franchise  in- 
spires. :J:  "  The  idea  of  restraining  the  right  of  suffrage  to  the 
freeholders,"  said  Eutledge,  "  would  create  division  among  the 
people,  and  make  enemies  of  all  those  who  should  be  exclud- 
ed." *  The  movement  of  Morris  toward  a  freehold  qualifica- 
tion gained  no  vote  but  that  of  Delaware  ;  and  the  section  as 
reported  was  imanimously  approved. 

SEach  state  was  therefore  left  to  fix  for  itself  within  its 
own  limits  its  conditions  of  suffrage ;  but  where,  as  in  New 
York  and  Maryland,  a  discrimination  was  made  in  different 
elections,  the  convention  applied  the  most  liberal  rule  adopted 
in  the  state  to  the  elections  of  members  of  congress,  accepting 
in  advance  any  extensions  of  the  suffrage  that  in  any  of  the 
states  might  grow  out  of  the  development  of  republican  insti- 
tutions.    Plad  the  convention  established  a  freehold  or  other 

*  Gilpin,  1252  ;  Elliot,  886,  387.  t  Gilpin,  1254  ;  Elliot,  388. 

t  Gilpin,  1253  ;  Elliot,  38Y.  «  Gilpin,  1255  ;  Elliot,  383. 


1787.  THE  POWERS   OF   CONGRESS.  299 

qualification  of  its  own,  it  must  liave  taken  upon  itself  the 
introduction  of  this  restriction  into  every  one  of  the  states  of 
the  union. 

On  the  question  of  representation  the  only  embarrassmentl 
that  remained  grew  out  of  that  part  of  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee of  detail  which  sanctioned  the  perpetual  continuance 
of  the  slave-trade.  Everywhere,  always,  by  everybody,  in  stat- 
utes alike  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  in  speeches,  in  let- 
ters, slavery  in  those  days  was  spoken  of  as  an  evil.  Every- 
where in  the  land,  the  free  negro  always,  the  slave  from  the 
instant  of  his  emancipation,  belonged  to  the  class  of  citizens, 
though  in  Virginia,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  in  Dela- 
ware, for  all  except  those  who  before  1787  had  already  ac- 
quired the  elective  franchise,*  color  barred  the  way  to  the 
ballot-box.  The  convention  did  nothing  to  diminish  the  rights 
of  black  men ;  and,  to  the  incapacities  under  which  they  labored 
in  any  of  the  states,  it  was  careful  to  add  no  new  one.  Madi- 
son, in  the  following  February,  recommending  the  constitution 
for  ratification,  writes  :  "  It  is  admitted  that,  if  the  laws  were 
to  restore  the  rights  which  have  been  taken  away,  the  negroes 
could  no  longer  be  refused  an  equal  share  of  representation 
with  the  other  inhabitants."  f  The  convention  had  agreed  to 
the  enumeration  of  two  fifths  of  the  slaves  in  the  representa- 
tive population ;  but  a  new  complication  was  introduced  by 
the  sanction  which  the  committee  of  detail  had  lent  to  the  per-J 
petuity  of  the  slave-trade. 

King  had  hoped  for  some  compromise  on  the  subject  of 
the  slave-trade  and  slavery.  "  I  never  can  agree,"  said  he,  in 
the  debate  of  the  eighth,  "  to  let  slaves  be  imported  without 
limitation  of  time,  and  be  represented  in  the  national  legisla- 
ture." i 

Gouvemeur  Morris  then  moved  that  there  should  be  no^ 
representation  but  of  "  free  inhabitants."  "  I  never  will  con-  / 
cur  in  upholding  domestic  slavery.  It  is  a  nefarious  institu-  7 
tion.  It  is  the  curse  of  heaven  on  the  states  where  it  prevails.  1 
Com]3are  the  free  regions  of  the  middle  states,  where  a  rich  \ 
and  noble  cultivation  marks  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of 

*  I  so  interpret  the  Delaware  statute  of  17S7.  f  Federalist,  No.  liv. 

X  Gilpin,  1262;  Elliot,  392. 


300  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.        b.  iii.  ;  en.  vii. 

the  people,  with  the  misery  and  poverty  which  overspread  tlie 
barren  wastes  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  the  other  states 
having  slaves.  Travel  through  the  whole  continent,  and  you 
behold  the  prospect  continually  varying  with  the  appearance 
and  disappearance  of  slavery.  The  moment  you  leave  the 
eastern  states  and  enter  'New  York,  the  effects  of  the  institu- 
tion become  visible.  Passing  through  the  Jerseys  and  enter- 
ing Pennsylvania,  every  criterion  of  superior  improvement 
witnesses  the  change;  proceed  southwardly,  and  every  step 
you  take  through  the  great  regions  of  slaves  presents  a  desert 
increasing  with  the  increasing  proportion  of  these  wretched 
beings.  Upon  what  principle  shall  slaves  be  computed  in  the 
representation  ?  Are  they  men  ?  Then  make  them  citizens, 
and  let  them  vote.  Are  they  property  ?  Why,  then,  is  no 
other  property  included  ?  The  houses  in  this  city  are  worth 
more  than .  all  the  wretched  slaves  who  cover  the  rice-swamps 
of  South  Carolina.  The  admission  of  slaves  into  the  represen- 
tation, when  fairly  explained,  comes  to  this :  that  the  inhabit- 
ant of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  who  goes  to  the  coast  of 
Africa,  and  in  defiance  of  the  most  sacred  laws  of  humanity 
tears  away  his  fellow-creatures  from  their  dearest  connections 
and  damns  them  to  the  most  cruel  bondage,  shall  have  more 
votes  in  a  government  instituted  for  protection  of  the  rights  of 
mankind  than  tlie  citizen  of  Pennsylvania  or  I^ew  Jersey,  who 
views  with  a  laudable  horror  so  nefarious  a  practice.  I  will  add, 
that  domestic  slavery  is  the  most  prominent  feature  in  the  aris- 
tocratic countenance  of  the  proposed  constitution.  The  vassal- 
age of  the  poor  has  ever  been  the  favorite  offspring  of  aristoc- 
racy. And  what  is  the  proposed  compensation  to  the  northern 
states  for  a  sacrifice  of  every  principle  of  right,  of  every  im- 
pulse of  humanity  ?  They  are  to  bind  themselves  to  march 
their  militia  for  the  defence  of  the  southern  states  against  those 
very  slaves  of  whom  they  complain.  They  must  supply  vessels 
and  seamen,  in  case  of  foreign  attack.  The  legislature  will 
have  indefinite  power  to  tax  them  by  excises  and  duties  on  im- 
ports, both  of  which  will  fall  heavier  on  them  than  on  the 
southern  inhabitants.  On  the  other  side,  the  southern  states 
are  not  to  be  restrained  from  importing  fresh  supplies  of 
wretched  Africans,  at  once  to  increase  the  danger  of  attack  and 


( 


1787.  THE  POWEPwS  OF  COI^GRESS.  301 

the  difficulty  of  defence ;  nay,  they  are  to  be  encouraged  to  it 
by  an  assurance  of  having  their  votes  in  the  national  govern- 
ment increased  in  proportion ;  and  are,  at  the  same  time,  to 
have  their  exports  and  their  slaves  exempt  from  all  contribu- 
tions for  the  public  service.  I  mil  sooner  submit  myself  to  a  ) 
tax  for  paying  for  all  the  negroes  in  the  United  States  than  | 
saddle  posterity  with  such  a  constitution."  "^  Dayton  seconded  ^> 
the  motion,  that  his  sentiments  on  the  subject  might  appear, 
whatever  might  be  the  fate  of  the  amendment,  f  Charles 
Pinclmey  "  considered  the  fisheries  and  the  western  frontier  as 
more  burdensome  to  the  United  States  than  the  slaves."  % 
Wilson  thought  an  agreement  to  the  clause  would  be  no  bar  to 
the  object  of  the  motion,  which  itself  was  premature.  I^ew 
Jersey  voted  aye,  ten  states  in  the  negative.  So  ended  the 
skirmish  preliminary  to  the  struggle  on  the  continuance  of  the 
slave-trade. 

Great  as  was  the  advance  from  the  articles  of  the  confeder- 
acy, the  new  grants,  not* less  than  the  old  ones,  of  power  to  the 
legislature  of  the  United  States  to  lay  taxes,  duties,  imposts, 
and  excises,  and  collect  them ;  to  regulate  foreign  and  domes- 
tic commerce ;  alone  to  coin  money  and  regulate  the  value  of 
foreign  coin ;  to  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  measures ; 
and  establish  post-offices,  were  accepted  on  the  sixteenth,  with 
little  difference  of  opinion.* 

E'o  one  disputed  the  necessity  of  clothing  the  United 
States  with  power  "  to  borrow  money."  The  committee  of  de- 
tail added  a  continuance  of  the  permission  "  to  emit  bills  on 
the  credit  of  the  United  States."  |  Four  years  before,  Hamil- 
ton, in  his  careful  enumeration  of  the  defects  in  the  confeder- 
ation, pronounced  that  this  authority  "  to  emit  an  unfunded 
paper  as  the  sign  of  value  ought  not  to  continue  a  formal  part 
of  the  constitution,  nor  ever,  hereafter,  to  be  employed ;  being, 
in  its  nature,  pregnant  with  abuses,  and  liable  to  be  made  the 
engine  of  imposition  and  fraud;  holding  out  temptations 
equally  pernicious  to  the  integrity  of  government  and  to  the 
morals  of  the  people."  ^ 

*  Gilpin,  1263-1265  ;  Elliot,  392,  393.         #  Gilpin,  1343  ;  Elliot,  434. 
t  Gilpin,  1265 ;  Elliot,  393.  \  Gilpin,  1232 ;  Elliot,  378. 

X  Gilpin,  1265,  1266;  Elliot,  393-397.        ^  Hamilton's  Works,  ii.,  271. 


302  THE  FEDERAL  OONVENTION".    b.  iii.  ;  ch.  vii. 

Gouverneiir  Morris  on  the  fifteenth  recited  the  history  of 
paper  emissions  and  the  perseverance  of  the  legislative  assem- 
Llies  in  repeating  them,  though  well  aware  of  all  their  distress- 
ing efl'ects,  and  drew  the  inference  that,  were  the  national  legis- 
lature formed  and  a  war  to  break  out,  this  ruinous  expedient, 
if  not  guarded  against,  w^ould  be  again  resorted  to.*  On  the 
sixteenth  he  moved  to  strike  out  the  power  to  emit  bills  on  the 
credit  of  the  United  States.  "  If  the  United  States,"  said  he, 
"  have  credit,  such  bills  will  be  unnecessary ;  if  they  have  not, 
they  will  be  unjust  and  useless."  f  Butler  was  urgent  for  dis- 
arming the  government  of  such  a  power,  and  seconded  the 
motion.  :j:     It  obtained  the  acquiescence  of  Madison. 

Mason  of  Virginia  "  had  a  mortal  hatred  to  paper  money, 
yet,  as  he  could  not  foresee  all  emergencies,  he  was  unwilling 
to  tie  the  hands  of  the  legislature.  The  late  war  could  not 
have  been  carried  on  had  such  a  prohibition  existed."  *  "  The 
power,"  said  Gorham,  ^'  as  far  as  it  will  be  necessary  or  safe,  is 
involved  in  that  of  borrowing  money."  ||  Mercer  of  Mary- 
land was  unwilling  to  deny  to  the  government  a  discretion  on 
this  point ;  besides,  he  held  it  impolitic  to  excite  the  opposition 
to  the  constitution  of  all  those  who,  like  himself,  were  friends 
to  paper  money."^  "  This,"  said  Ellsworth,  "  is  a  favorable 
moment  to  shut  and  bar  the  door  against  paper  money,  which 
can  in  no  case  be  necessary.  The  power  may  do  harm,  never 
good.  Give  the  government  credit,  and  other  resources  will 
offer."  ^  Eandolph,  notwithstanding  his  antipathy  to  paper 
money,  could  not  foresee  all  the  occasions  that  might  arise.  J 
"Paper  money,"  said  Wilson,  "can  never  succeed  while  its 
mischiefs  are  remembered ;  and,  as  long  as  it  can  be  resorted 
to,  it  will  be  a  bar  to  other  resources."  $  "  Rather  than  give 
the  power,"  said  John  Langdon  of  !N'ew  Hampshire,  "  I  would 
reject  the  whole  plan."  J 

With  the  full  recollection  of  the  need,  or  seeming  need,  of 
paper  money  in  the  revolution,  with  the  menace  of  danger  in 

*  Gilpin,  1334;  Elliot,  429.  ^  Gilpin,  1344,  1345  ;  Elliot,  435. 
f  Gilpin,  1343  ;  Elliot,  434.  0  Gilpin,  1345  ;  Elliot,  435. 

X  Gilpin,  1344  ;  Elliot,  434.  I  Ibid. 

#  Ibid.  I  Ibid. 

I  Gilpin,  1344  ;  Elliot,  435.  |  Gilpin,  1346  ;  Elliot,  435. 


1787.  THE   POWEKS  OF  CONGRESS.  303 

future  time  of  war  from  its  prohibition,  authority  to  issue  bills  | 
of  credit  that  should  be  legal-tender  was  refused  to  the  general  t 
government  by  the  vote  of  nine  states  against  New  Jersey  \ 
and  Maryland.     It  was  Madison  who  decided  the  vote  of  Yir-^ 
ginia ;  and  he  has  left  his  testimony  that  "  the  pretext  for  a  I 
paper  currency,  and  particularly  for  making  the  bills  a  tender,  \y^ 
either  for  public  or  private  debts,  was  cut  off."     This  is  the  ( 
interpretation  of  the  clause,  made  at  the  time  of  its  adoption  I 
alike  by  its  authors  and  by  its  opponents,*  accepted  by  all  the  \ 
statesmen  of  that  age,  not  open  to  dispute  because  too  clear  for  j 
argument,  and  never  disputed  so  long  as  any  one  man  who  tooku/ 
part  in  framing  the  constitution  remained  alive. 

History  can  not  name  a  man  who  has   gained  enduring  I 
honor  by  causing  the  issue  of  paper  money.     Wherever  such  ji 

*  For  Madison's  narrative  and  opinion,  see  Gilpin,  1344-1346,  and  note  on 
1346  ;  Elliot,  434,  435.  The  accuracy  of  the  historical  sketch  of  Luther  Martin, 
officially  addressed,  27  January  1788,  to  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  delegates  of 
Maryland,  has  in  ninety-six  years  never  been  questioned.  It  may  be  found  in 
Elliot,  i.,  369,  370,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  By  our  original  Articles  of  Confederation,  the  congress  have  power  to  borrow 
money  and  emit  bills  of  credit  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  ;  agreeable  to 
which  was  the  report  on  this  system  as  made  by  the  committee  of  detail.  When  we 
came  to  this  part  of  the  report,  a  motion  was  made  to  strike  out  the  words  '  to  emit 
bills  of  credit.'  Against  the  motion  we  urged  that  it  would  be  improper  to  deprive 
the  congress  of  that  power  ;  that  it  would  be  a  novelty  unprecedented  to  establish 
a  government  which  should  not  have  such  authority ;  that  it  was  impossible  to  look 
forward  into  futurity  so  far  as  to  decide  that  events  might  not  happen  that  should 
render  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  absolutely  necessary ;  and  that  we  doubted 
whether,  if  a  war  should  take  place,  it  would  be  possible  for  this  country  to  defend 
itself  without  having  recourse  to  paper  credit,  in  which  case  there  would  be  a 
necessity  of  becoming  a  prey  to  our  enemies  or  violating  the  constitution  of  our 
government ;  and  that,  considering  the  administration  of  the  government  would  be 
principally  in  the  hands  of  the  wealthy,  there  could  be  little  reason  to  fear  an 
abuse  of  the  power  by  an  unnecessary  or  injurious  exercise  of  it.  But,  sir,  a  ma- 
jority of  the  convention,  being  wise  beyond  every  event,  and  being  willing  to  risk 
any  political  evil  rather  than  admit  the  idea  of  a  paper  emission  in  any  possible 
case,  refused  to  trust  this  authority  to  a  government  to  which  they  were  lavishing 
the  most  unlimited  powers  of  taxation,  and  to  the  mercy  of  which  they  were  will- 
ing blindly  to  trust  the  liberty  and  property  of  the  citizens  of  every  state  in  the 
union  ;  and  they  erased  that  clause  from  the  system." 

With  regard  to  the  paper  money  issued  during  the  late  civil  war,  congress 
healed  the  difficulty  by  obtaining,  in  the  fourteenth  amendment,  from  the  whole 
country  what  may  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  indemnity ;  and,  while  the  country 
made  itself  responsible  for  the  debt  which  was  contracted,  the  amendment  pre 
served  the  original  clause  of  the  constitution  in  its  full  integrity  and  vigor. 


304  THE   FEDERAL   CONVENTION.        b.  hi.  ;  en.  vii. 

'  [  paper  lias  been  employed,  it  has  in  every  case  thrown  upon  its 
authors  the  burden  of  exculpation  under  the  plea  of  pressing 
necessity. 

^     /*       Paper  money  has  no  hold,  and  from  its  very  nature  can  ac- 
I    quire  no  hold,  on  the  conscience  or  affections  of  the  people. 
I    It  impairs  all  certainty  of  possession,  and  taxes  none  so  heavily 
\    as  the  class  who  earn  their  scant  possession  by  daily  labor.     It 
I  injures  the  husbandman  by  a  twofold  diminution  of  the  ex- 
changeable value  of  his  harvest.     It  is  the  favorite  of  those 
/  who  seek  gain  without  willingness  to  toil ;  it  is  the  deadly  foe 
/    of  industry.     'No  powerful  political  party  ever  permanently 
/      rested  for  support  on  the  theory  that  it  is  wise  and  right.     No 
\  ,    statesman  has  been  thought  well  of  by  his  kind  in*  a  succeeding 
generation  for  having  been  its  promoter.* 

In  the  plan  of  government,  concerted  between  the  members 
from  Connecticut,  especially  Sherman  and  Ellsworth,  there  was 
this  further  article :  "  That  the  legislatures  of  the  individual 
states  ought  not  to  possess  a  right  to  emit  bills  of  credit  for  a 
currency,  or  to  make  any  tender  laws  for  the  payment  or  dis- 
charge of  debts  or  contracts  in  any  manner  different  from  the 
agreement  of  the  parties,  or  in  any  manner  to  obstruct  or  im- 
pede the  recovery  of  debts,  whereby  the  interests  of  foreigners 
or  the  citizens  of  any  other  state  may  be  affected."f 

The  committee  of  detail  had  reported :  "  No  state,  without 
the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  United  States,  shall  emit 
bills  of  credit.  With  a  nobler  and  safer  trust  in  the  power  of 
truth  and  right  over  opinion,  Sherman  on  the  twenty-eighth, 
scorning  compromise,  cried  out :  "  This  is  the  favorable  crisis 
for  crushing  paper  money,"  and,  joining  "Wilson,  they  two  pro- 
posed to  make  the  prohibition  absolute.     Gorham  feared  that 

*  This  paragraph  is  a  very  feeble  abstract  of  the  avowed  convictions  of  the 
great  statesmen  and  jurists  who  made  the  constitution.  Their  words  are  homely 
and  direct  condemnation ;  and  they  come  not  from  one  party.  Eichard  Henry 
Lee  is  as  strong  in  his  denunciation  as  Washington,  Sherman,  or  Eobert  R.  Living- 
ston. William  Paterson  of  New  Jersey  wrote  in  1786  as  follows  :  "  An  increase 
of  paper  money,  especially  if  it  be  a  tender,  will  destroy  what  little  credit  is  left ; 
will  bewilder  conscience  in  the  mazes  of  dishonest  speculations  ;  will  allure  some 
and  constrain  others  into  the  perpetration  of  knavish  tricks ;  will  turn  vice  into  a 
legal  virtue  ;  and  sanctify  iniquity  by  law,"  etc. — From  the  holograph  of  William 
Paterson. 

f  Sherman's  Life,  in  Biography  of  the  Signers,  ii.,  43, 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  305 

the  absolute  prohibition  would  rouse  the  most  desperate  oppo- 
sition ;  but  four  northern  states  and  four  southern  states,  Mary- 
land being  divided,  New  Jersey  absent,  and  Virginia  alone  in 
the  negative,  placed  in  the  constitution  these  unequivocal  words : 
"  1^0  state  shall  emit  bills  of  credit."  The  second  part  of  the' 
clause,  "  JSTo  state  shall  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin 
a  tender  in  payment  of  debts,"  was  accepted  without  a  dissen- 
tient state.  So  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  is  to  be  the  end 
forever  of  paper  money,  whetlier  issued  by  the  several  states 
or  by  the  United  states,  if  the  constitution  shall  be  rightly  in- 
terpreted and  honestly  obeyed. 

It  was  ever  the  wish  of  Sherman  and  Ellsworth  to  prohibit 
"  the  discharge  of  debts  or  contracts  in  any  manner  different 
from  the  agreement  of  the  parties."  Among  the  aggressions 
made  by  the  states  on  the  rights  of  other  states,  Madison,  in 
his  enumeration,*  names  the  enforced  payment  of  debts  in 
paper  money,  the  enforced  discharge  of  debts  by  the  convey- 
ance of  land  or  other  property,  the  instalment  of  debts,  and  the 
"  occlusion "  of  courts.  For  the  last  two  of  these  wrongs  no 
remedy  was  as  yet  provided. 

King  moved  to  add,  as  in  the  ordinance  of  congress  for  the 
establishment  of  new  states,  "  a  prohibition  on  the  states  to  in- 
terfere in  private  contracts."  f  "  This  would  be  going  too 
far,"  interposed  Gouverneur  Morris.  "  There  are  a  thousand 
laws  relating  to  bringing  actions,  limitations  of  actions,  and 
the  like,  which  affect  contracts.  The  judicial  power  of  the 
United  States  will  be  a  protection  in  cases  within  their  juris- 
diction ;  mthin  the  state  itself  a  majority  must  rule,  whatever 
may  be  the  mischief  done  among  themselves."  :[:.  "  Why,  then, 
prohibit  bills  of  credit?"  inquired  Sherman.  "Wilson  was  in 
favor  of  King's  motion.  Madison  admitted  that  inconveni- 
ences might  arise  from  such  a  prohibition,  but  thought  on  the 
whole  its  utility  would  overbalance  them.  He  conceived,  how- 
ever, that  a  negative  on  the  state  laws  could  alone  secure  the 
end.  Evasions  might  and  would  be  devised  by  the  ingenuity 
of  legislatures.*  His  colleague  Mason  replied :  "  The  mo- 
tion "  of  King  "  is  carrying  the  restraint  too  far.     Cases  will 

*  Madison,  i.,  321.  t  Ibid, 

f  Gilpin,  1443  ;  Elliot,  485.  *  Ibid. 

VOL.   TI. — 20 


306  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.        b.iii.;  ch.vii. 

happen  tliat  cannot  be  foreseen,  where  some  kind  of  interfer- 
ence will  be  proper  and  essential."  He  mentioned  the  case  of 
limiting  the  period  for  bringing  actions  on  open  account,  that 
of  bonds  after  a  lapse  of  time,  asking  whether  it  was  proper  to 
tie  the  hands  of  the  states  from  making  provision  in  such 
cases.* 

"The  answer  to  these  objections  is,"  Wilson  explained, 
"  that  retrospective  interferences  only  are  to  be  prohibited." 
"  Is  not  that  already  done,"  asked  Madison,  "  by  the  prohibi- 
tion of  ex  jpost  facto  laws,  which  will  oblige  the  judges  to  de- 
clare such  interferences  null  and  void  ?  "  f  But  the  prohibi. 
tion  which,  on  the  motion  of  Gerry  and  McHenry,  had  been 
adopted  six  days  before,  was  a  limitation  on  the  powers  of  con- 
gress. Instead  of  King's  motion,  Rutledge  advised  to  extend 
that  limitation  to  the  individual  states ;  %  and  accordingly  they, 
too,  were  now  forbidden  to  pass  bills  of  attainder  or  exjpost 
facto  laws  by  the  vote  of  seven  states  against  Connecticut, 
Maryland,  and  Yirginia,  Massachusetts  being  absent.  So  the 
motion  of  King,  which  had  received  hearty  support  only  from 
Wilson,  was  set  aside  by  a  very  great  majority. 

The  next  morning  "  Dickinson  mentioned  to  the  house  that, 
on  exaraning  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  he  found  that  the 
term  ecu  jpost  facto  related  to  criminal  cases  only ;  that  the 
words  would  consequently  not  restrain  the  states  from  retro- 
spective laws  in  civil  cases ;  and  that  some  further  provision 
for  this  purpose  would  be  requisite."  *  Of  this  remark  the 
convention  at  the  moment  took  no  note ;  and  the  clause  of 
Rutledge  was  left  in  the  draft  then  making  of  the  constitution, 
as  the  provision  against  the  "  stay  laws  and  occlusion  of  courts  " 
so  much  warned  against  by  Madison,  "the  payment  or  dis- 
charge of  debts  or  contracts  in  any  manner  different  from  the 
agreement  of  the  parties,"  as  demanded  by  Sherman  and  Ells- 
worth. 1 

*  Gilpin,  1443 ;  Elliot,  485.  \  Gilpin,  1399,  1444  ;  Elliot,  462,  485. 

%  Ex  post  facto,  not  retrospective,  was  the  form  used  by  Rutledge.  Correct 
Gilpin,  1444,  by  the  Journal  of  the  Convention,  in  Elliot,  i.,  271,  and  compare 
Elliot,  i.,  257.  »  Gilpin,  1450  ;  Elliot,  488. 

II  That  no  other  motion  in  form  or  substance  was  adopted  by  the  convention 
till  after  the  draft  went  into  the  hands  of  the  committee  of  style  and  revision,  ap- 
pears from  a  most  careful  comparison  of  the  printed  journal  of  the  convention,  of 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  307 

Among  the  prohibitions  on  the  states  which  the  committee 
of  detail  reported  on  the  twenty-eighth,  was  that  of  laying  du- 
ties on  imports.  "Particular  states,"  observed  Mason,  "may 
wish  to  encom-age  by  impost  duties  certain  manufactures  for 
which  they  enjoy  natural  advantages,  as  Virginia  the  manufac- 
ture of  hemp,  etc."  *  Madison  rephed  :  "  The  encouragement 
of  manufactures  in  that  mode  requires  duties,  not  only  on  im- 
ports directly  from  foreign  countries,  but  from  the  other  states 
in  the  union,  which  would  revive  all  the  mischiefs  experienced 
from  the  want  of  a  general  government  over  commerce."  f 
King  proposed  to  extend  the  prohibition  not  to  imports  only, 
but  also  to  exports,  so  as  to  prohibit  the  states  from  taxing 
either.  Sherman  added,  that,  even  with  the  consent  of  the 
United  States,  the  several  states  should  not  levy  taxes  on  im- 
portations except  for  the  use  of  the  United  States.  This  move- 
ment Gouverneur  Morris  supported  as  a  regulation  necessary 
to  prevent  the  Atlantic  states  from  endeavoring  to  tax  the 
western  states  and  promote  their  separate  interest  by  opposing 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  which  would  drive  the  west- 
ern people  into  the  arms  of  Great  Britain.  George  Clymer 
of  Pennsylvania  "  thought  the  encouragement  of  the  western 
country  was  suicide  on  the  part  of  the  old  states.  If  the  states 
have  such  different  interests  that  they  cannot  be  left  to  regu- 
late their  own  manufactures,  without  encountering  the  interests 
of  other  states,  it  is  a  proof  that  they  are  not  fit  to  compose 
one  nation."  X  King  did  not  wish  to  "  interfere  too  much  with 
the  policy  of  states  respecting  their  manufactures,"  holding 
that  such  a  policy  of  protection  in  a  separate  state  might  be 
necessary.  "  Pevenue,"  he  reminded  the  house,  "  was  the  ob- 
ject of  the  general  legislature."  *  By  a  large  majority  the  pro- 
hibition on  the  several  states  of  taxing  imports  was  made  de- 
pendent on  the  consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  United  States ; 

its  Journal  as  preserved  in  manuscript,  of  every  scrap  of  paper  containing  any  mo- 
tion or  sketch  of  a  motion  preserved  among  the  records  of  the  convention  in  the 
state  department,  of  the  debates  of  the  convention  as  reported  by  Madison,  and  of 
the  several  copies  of  the  broadside  which  were  used  for  the  entry  of  amendments 
by  Washington,  by  Madison,  by  Brearley,  by  Gilman,  by  Johnson,  and  another, 
which  seems  to  be  that  of  the  secretary,  Jackson. 

*  Gilpin,  14-i5  ;  Elliot,  486.  X  Gilpin,  U46,  14-17  ;  Elliot,  487. 

f  Ibid.  *  Gilpin,  1447 ;  Elliot,  478. 


308  THE  FEDERAL   CONYENTIOIT.         b.  m. ;  ch.  vii. 

and  with  tliis  limitation  it  was  carried  witliout  a  dissentient 
vote.  The  extending  of  the  prohibition  to  exports  obtained  a 
majority  of  but  one.  That  taxes  on  imports  or  exports  by  the 
states,  even  with  the  consent  of  the  United  States,  should  be 
exclusively  for  the  use  of  the  United  States,  gained  every  state 
but  Massachusetts  and  Maryland.  The  power  to  protect  do- 
mestic manufactures  by  imposts  was  taken  away  from  the 
states,  and,  so  far  as  it  is  incident  to  tlie  raising  of  revenue,  was 
confined  to  the  United  States. 

The  country  had  been  filled  with  schemes  for  a  division  of 
the  thirteen  states  into  two  or  more  separate  groups ;  the  con- 
vention, following  its  committee  of  detail,  would  suffer  no 
state  to  enter  into  any  confederation,  or  even  into  a  treaty  or 
alliance  with  any  confederation.  The  restriction  was  absolute. 
To  make  it  still  more  clear  and  peremptory,  it  was  repeated 
and  enlarged  in  another  article,  which  declared  not  only  that 
^'  no  state  shall  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  any 
foreign  power,"  but  that  "  no  state  shall  enter  into  any  agree- 
ment or  compact  with  any  other  state."  ^'  Each  state  was  con- 
fined in  its  government  strictly  to  its  own  duties  within  itself. 

As  to  slavery,  it  was  by  a  unanimous  consent  treated  as  a 
sectional  interest;  freedom  existed  in  all  the  states;  slavery 
was  a  relation  established  within  a  state  by  its  own  law.  Un- 
der the  sovereignty  of  the  king  of  G-reat  Britain  the  laws  of  a 
colony  did  not  on  British  soil  prevail  over  the  imperial  law. 
In  like  manner  in  America,  a  slave  in  one  American  colony, 
finding  himself  on  the  soil  of  another,  was  subject  only  to  the 
laws  of  the  colony  in  which  he  might  be  found.  It  remained 
so  on  the  declaration  of  independence  ;  not  as  an  innovation, 
but  as  the  continuance  of  an  established  fact.  The  articles  of 
confederation  took  no  note  of  slavery,  except  by  withholding 
the  privileges  of  intercitizenship  from  the  slave.  The  enu- 
meration of  slaves  was  in  the  distribution  of  political  power  a 
matter  of  indifference  so  long  as  congress  voted  by  states  and 
proportioned  its  requisitions  of  revenue  to  wealth  alone. 

In  framing  a  constitution  in  which  representation  in  one 
branch  of  the  legislature  was  made  to  depend  on  population, 
it  became  the  political  interest  of  the  states  in  which  slaves 

*  Article  xiii.     Gilpin,  1239,  1447;  Elliot,  381,  48'7. 


1787.  THE  POWERS   OF   CONGRESS.  309 

abounded  to  have  tliem  included  in  tlie  enumeration  of  the 
population  equally  with  the  free  negroes  and  the  whites.  They 
so  far  succeeded  that  the  slave  inhabitants  were  held  to  be  a 
part  of  the  grand  aggregate  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  as  such  were  entitled  to  bring  a  proportional  increase  of 
representation  to  the  state  in  which  they  abode.  For  this  pur- 
pose of  representation  the  slaves  were  by  a  compromise  allowed 
to  be  counted,  but  only  as  three  out  of  five ;  should  the  master 
see  fit  to  liberate  the  slave,  he  became  at  once  a  free  inhabitant 
and  a  citizen  with  the  right  of  intercitizenship,  and  of  being 
counted  equally  in  the  representative  population. 

Intercitizenship  was  the  life-blood  of  the  union.  The  re- 
port of  the  committee  of  detail,  changing  only  the  words  "  free 
inhabitants  "  for  "  citizens,"  followed  the  articles  of  confedera- 
tion in  declaring  that  "  the  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  en- 
titled to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several 
states."  *  The  slave  remained  a  slave,  but  only  in  states  whose 
local  laws  permitted  it. 

After  three  weeks'  reflection,  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  on  the 
twenty-eighth  of  August,  avowed  himself  not  satisfied  with  the 
article ;  he  wished  that  "  some  provision  should  be  included  in 
favor  of  property  in  slaves."  The  article  was  nevertheless 
adopted,  but  not  unanimously ;  South  Carolina  voted  against 
it,  and  Georgia  was  divided,  showing  that  discontent  with  the 
want  of  the  protection  to  slavery  was  seated  in  their  breasts, 
even  so  far  as  to  impugn  the  great  principle  which  was  a 
necessary  condition  of  union.f 

The  convention  proceeded  with  its  work,  and  proposed  that 
any  person  who  should  flee  from  justice  should  be  delivered 
up  on  the  demand  of  the  executive  of  the  state  from  which  he 
fled.  Butler  and  Charles  Pinckney  moved,  as  an  amendment, 
to  require  fugitive  slaves  to  be  delivered  up  like  criminals. 
"  This,"  answered  Wilson,  "  would  oblige  the  executive  of  the 
state  to  do  it  at  the  public  expense."  "  The  public,"  said 
Sherman,  "  can  with  no  more  propriety  seize  and  surrender  a 
slave  or  servant  than  a  horse."  Butler  withdrew  his  motion 
and  the  article  as  proposed  was  unanimously  adopted.  :j: 

*  Gilpin,  1240;  ElUot,  881.  f  Gilpin,  1447;  Elliot,  487. 

X  Gilpin,  1447,  1448;   Elliot,  487. 


310  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.         b.  iii.  ;  ch.  yii. 

The  convention  was  not  unprepared  to  adopt  a  fugitive 
slave  law,  for  such  a  clause  formed  a  part  of  the  ordinance  of 
1787,  adopted  in  the  preceding  July  for  the  government  of 
the  north-western  territory.  On  the  twenty-ninth,  Butler,  after 
the  opportunity  of  reflection  and  consultation,  offered  a  pro- 
posal :  "  That  the  fugitive  slaves  escaping  into  another  state 
shall  be  delivered  up  to  the  person  justly  claiming  their  ser- 
vice or  labor."  This  for  the  moment  was  agreed  to  without 
dissent.*  The  trouble  and  expense  of  making  the  claim  fell 
on  the  slave-holder ;  the  language  of  the  article  did  not  clearly 
point  out  by  whom  the  runaway  slave  was  to  be  delivered  up. 

*  Gilpin,  1456;  Elliot,  492.     Compare  Gilpin,  1558;  Elliot,  564. 


1787.  THE  POWEKS  OF  CONGRESS.  311 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

the  constitution  in  detail.    the  powees  of  congkess, 
continued. 

From  the  Middle  to  the  End  of  August  1787. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  August,  Entledge  insisted  that  it  was 
necessary  and  expedient  for  the  United  States  to  assume  "  all 
the  state  debts."  A  committee  of  eleven,  to  whom  the  subject 
was  referred,  on  the  twenty-first  reported  a  grant  of  power  to 
the  United  States  to  assume  "  the  debts  of  the  several  states 
incurred  during  the  late  war  for  the  common  defence  and  gen- 
eral welfare."  But  the  states  which  had  done  the  most  toward 
discharging  their  obligations  were  unwilling  to  share  equally 
the  burdens  of  those  which  had  done  the  least ;  and  the  con- 
vention, adopting  on  the  twenty-fifth  the  language  of  Ran- 
dolph, afiirmed  no  more  than  that  the  engagements  of  the 
confederation  should  be  equally  valid  against  the  United  States 
under  this  constitution.* 

The  convention,  on  the  seventeenth,  agreed  with  its  com- 
mittee in  giving  jurisdiction  to  the  United  States  over  the 
crime  of  counterfeiting  their  coins  and  over  crimes  committed 
on  tlie  high  seas,  or  against  the  law  of  nations. f 

The  report  of  the  committee  of  detail  gave  power  to  con- 
gress "  to  subdue  a  rebellion  in  any  state  on  the  apphcation  of 
its  legislature."  Martin,  on  the  seventeenth,  approved  the 
limitation  to  which  Charles  Pinckney,  Gouverneur  Morris,  and 
Langdon  objected.  Ellsworth  moved  to  dispense  with  the  ap- 
plication of  the  legislature  of  the  rebellious  state  when  that 
body  could  not  meet.     "  Gerry  was  against  letting  loose  the 

*  Gilpin,  1426  ;  Elliot,  476.  f  Gilpin,  1349  ;  Elliot,  437. 


312  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTIOT^.       b.  hi.  ;  ch.  viii. 

myrmidons  of  the  United  States  on  a  state  without  its  own 
consent.  The  states  will  be  the  best  judges  in  such  cases. 
More  blood  wonld  have  been  spilt  in  Massachusetts  in  the  late 
insurrection  if  the  general  authority  had  intermeddled."  The 
motion  of  Ellsworth  was  adopted ;  but  it  weighed  down  the 
measure  itseK,  which  obtained  only  four  votes  against  four.* 
Z'       "We  come  to  a  regulation  where  the  spirit  of  repubhcanism 

(    exercised  its  humanest  influence.      The  world  had  been  re- 
'V      j    tarded  in  civilization,  unpoverished  and  laid  waste  by  wars  of 

/    the  personal  ambition  of  its  kings.     The  committee  of  detail 
4^  y     and  the  convention,  in  the  interest  of  peace,  intrusted  the 

'     power  to  declare  war,  not  to  the  executive,  but  to  the  deliber- 

i     ate  decision  of  the  two  branches  of  the  legislature,!  each  of 
them  having  a  negative  on  the  other;  and  the  executive  re- 

'-     taining  his  negative  on  them  both. 

On  the  eighteenth  Madison  offered  a  series  of  propositions, 
granting  powers  to  dispose  of  the  lands  of  the  United  States ; 
to  institute  temporary  governments  for  new  states ;  to  regulate 
affairs  with  the  Indians ;  to  exercise  exclusively  legislative  au- 
thority at  the  seat  of  general  government ;  to  grant  charters  of 
incorporation  where  the  public  good  might  require  them  and 
the  authority  of  a  single  state  might  be  incompetent ;  to  secure 
to  authors  their  copyrights  for  a  limited  time;  to  establish  a 
university ;  to  encourage  discoveries  and  the  advancement  of 
useful  knowledge.  J  In  that  and  the  next  sitting  Charles 
Pinckney  proposed,  among  other  cessions,  to  grant  immunities 
for  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  commerce,  trades,  and  manu- 
factures. They  were  all  unanimously  referred  to  the  commit- 
tee of  detail. 

Gerry  would  have  an  army  of  two  or  three  thousand  *  at 
the  most ;  a  number  in  proportion  to  population  greater  than 
the  present  army  of  the  United  States.  The  power  to  raise 
and  support  armies  was,  however,  accepted  unanimously,  with 
no  "  fetter  on  "  it,  except  the  suggestion  then  made  by  Mason 
and  soon  formally  adopted,  that  "no  appropriation  for  that 
use  should  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years." 

*  Gilpin,  1350,  1351 ;  Elliot,  437,  438.  #  Gilpin,  1360  ;  Elliot,  443. 

\  Gilpin,  1351 ;  Elliot,  488.     Elliot,  i.,  247. 
i  Gilpin,  1353,  1354,  1355;  Elliot,  439,  440. 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  313 

The  idea  of  a  navy  was  welcome  to  the  country.  Jefferson 
thought  a  small  one  a  necessity.*  The  convention  accepted 
unanimously  the  clause  giving  power  "to  build  and  equip 
fleets ; "  or,  as  the  power  was  more  fitly  defined,  "  to  provide 
and  maintain  a  navy."  f 

The  report  gave  to  the  general  government  only  power  to 
call  forth  the  aid  of  the  militia.  J  Mason  moved  to  grant  the 
further  power  of  its  regulation  and  discipKne,  for  "thirteen 
states  would  never  concur  in  any  one  system "  ;  *  but  he  re- 
served "  to  the  states  the  appointment  of  the  officers."  In  the 
opinion  of  Ellsworth,  the  motion  went  too  far.  "  The  militia 
should  be  under  rules  established  by  the  general  government 
when  in  actual  service  of  the  United  States.  The  whole  au- 
thority over  it  ought  by  no  means  to  be  taken  from  the  states. 
Their  consequence  would  pine  away  to  nothing  after  such  a 
sacrifice  of  power.  The  general  authority  could  not  suffi- 
ciently pervade  the  union  for  the  purpose,  nor  accommodate 
itseK  to  the  local  genius  of  the  people."  Sherman  supported 
him.  "  My  opinion  is,"  said  Dickinson,  "  that  the  states  never 
ought  to  give  up  all  authority  over  the  militia,  and  never 
will."  1 

Swayed  by  Dickinson,  Mason  modified  his  original  motion, 
which  Cotesworth  Pinckney  instantly  renewed.  A  grand 
committee  of  eleven,  to  which  this  among  other  subjects  was 
referred,  on  the  twenty-first  reported''^  that  the  legislature 
should  have  power  "  to  make  laws  for  organizing,  arming,  and 
disciplining  the  militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  of  them 
as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States." 
Ellsworth  and  Sherman,  on  the  twenty-third,  accepted  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  clause,  but  resisted  the  former.  "  The  disci- 
pline of  the  militia,"  answered  Madison,  "is  evidently  a  na- 
tional concern,  and  ought  to  be  provided  for  in  the  national 
constitution."  And  the  clause  was  adopted  by  nine  states 
against  Connecticut  and  Maryland.  {) 

*  Notes  on  Virginia,  end  of  the  answer  to  query  22  ;  Jefferson,  i.,  592,  606  ; 
ii.,  211,  218;  Madison,  i.,  196.  »  Gilpin,  1355  ;  Elliot,  440. 

f  Gilpin,  1360;  Elliot,  443.  ||  Gilpin,  1361,  1362;  Elliot,  443,  444. 

i  Gilpin,  1233  ;  Elliot,  379.  ^  Gilpin,  1378  ;  Elliot,  451. 

0  Gilpin,  1406,  1407  ;  Elliot,  466. 


314  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION      b.  hi.  ;  ch.  viii. 

Madison  always  wished  to  reserve  to  the  United  States  the 
appointment  of  general  officers  in  the  militia.  This  Sherman 
pronounced  absolutely  inadmissible.  "As  the  states  are  not 
to  be  abolished,"  said  Gerry,  "I  w^onder  at  the  attempts  to 
give  powers  inconsistent  with  their  existence.  A  civil  war 
may  be  produced  by  the  conflict  between  people  who  will  sup- 
port a  plan  of  vigorous  government  at  every  risk  and  others  of 
a  more  democratic  cast."  "  The  greatest  danger,"  said  Madi- 
son, "  is  disunion  of  the  states ;  it  is  necessary  to  guard  against 
it  by  sufficient  powers  to  the  common  government ;  the  great- 
est danger  to  liberty  is  from  large  standing  armies ;  it  is  best 
to  prevent  them  by  an  effectual  provision  for  a  good  militia." 
Madison  gained  for  his  motion  only  N'ew  Hampshire,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia.  The  appointment  of  officers  by  the 
states  was  then  agreed  to ;  and  the  states  were  to  train  tlie  mi- 
litia, but  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by  the  United 
States.* 

The  power  "  to  make  all  laws  necessary  and  proper  for  car- 
rying into  execution  the  powers  vested  by  this  constitution  in 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  department  or 
office  thereof,"  was  so  clearly  necessary  that,  without  cavil  or 
remark,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to.f 

The  definition  of  treason  against  the  United  States,  though 
made  in  language  like  that  of  the  English  law,  took  notice  of 
the  federal  character  of  the  American  government  by  defining 
it  as  levying  war  against  the  United  States  or  any  one  of 
them ;  thus  reserving  to  the  United  States  the  power  to  punish 
treason,  whether  by  war  against  the  United  States  or  by  war 
against  a  state.  Johnson  was  of  opinion  that  there  could  be  no 
treason  against  a  particular  state  even  under  the  confederation, 
much  less  under  the  proposed  system.  Mason  answered: 
"  The  United  States  will  have  a  qualified  sovereignty  only ; 
the  individual  states  will  retain  a  part  of  the  sovereignty." 
"A  rebellion  in  a  state,"  said  Johnson,  "would  amount  to 
treason  against  the  supreme  sovereign,  the  United  States." 
"  Treason  against  a  state,"  said  King,  "  must  be  treason  against 
the  United  States."  Sherman  difl:ered  from  him,  saying: 
"  Kesistance  against  the  laws  of  the  United  States  is  distin- 

*  Gilpin,  1407,  1408 ;  Elliot,  466,  467.  f  Gilpin,  1370;  Elliot,  447. 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  315 

guished  from  resistance  against  the  laws  of  a  particular  state." 
Ellsworth  added :  "  The  United  States  are  sovereign  on  one 
side  of  the  line  dividing  the  jurisdictions,  the  states  on  the 
other.  Each  ought  to  have  power  to  defend  their  respective 
sovereignties."  ^  "  War  or  insurrection  against  a  member  of 
the  union,"  said  Dickinson,  "must  be  so  against  the  whole 
body."  The  clause  as  amended,  evading  the  question,  spoke 
only  of  treason  by  levying  war  against  the  United  States  or 
adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  or  comfort.  No 
note  was  taken  of  the  falsification  of  election  returns,  or  the 
dangers  peculiar  to  elective  governments.  Martin  relates  that 
he  wished  an  amendment  excepting  citizens  of  any  state  from 
the  penalty  of  treason,  when  they  acted  expressly  in  obedience 
to  the  authority  of  their  own  state ;  but  seeing  that  a  motion 
to  that  effect  would  meet  with  no  favor,  he  at  the  time  shut 
up  the  thought  within  his  own  breast.f 

The  members  of  the  convention  long  held  in  "  recollection 
the  pain  and  difficulty  which  the  subject  of  slavery  caused  in 
that  body,"  and  which  "  had  well-nigh  led  southern  states  to 
break  it  up  without  coming  to  any  determination."  ^  The 
members  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  moved  by  the 
extreme  desire  of  preserving  the  union  and  obtaining  an  effi- 
cient government ;  but  as  their  constituents  could  not  be  rec- 
onciled to  the  immediate  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade  by  the 
act  of  the  United  States,  they  demanded  that  their  states 
should  retain  on  that  subject  the  liberty  of  choice  which  all 
then  possessed  under  the  confederation.  Unwilling  to  break 
the  imion  into  fragments,  the  committee  of  detail  proposed 
limitations  of  the  power  of  congress  to  regulate  commerce.  No 
tax  might  be  laid  on  exports,  nor  on  the  importation  of  slaves. 
As  to  the  slave-trade,  each  state  was  to  remain,  as  under  the 
articles  of  confederation,  free  to  import  such  persons  as  it 
"should  think  proper  to  admit."     The  states  might,  one  by 

*  Gilpin,  1375;  Elliot,  450. 

f  Elliot,  i.,  382,  383.  I  think  Martin  did  not  make  the  motion,  as  it  is  found 
neither  in  the  journal  nor  in  Madison.  His  narrative  is,  perhaps,  equivocal.  His 
words  are:  "I  wished  to  have  obtained";  and  again:  "But  this  provision  was 
not  adopted."     Here  is  no  assertion  that  he  made  the  motion. 

:J:  Baldwin's  Speech  in  the  House,  12  February  1*790. 


316  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTIO>T.       b.  iii. ;  on.  viii. 

one,  eatih  for  itself,  prohibit  the  slave-trade  ;  not  the  United 
States  by  a  general  law.  This  decision  was  coupled  with  no 
demand  of  privileges  for  the  shipping  interest.  Ellsworth,  in 
the  committee,  had  consented,  unconditionally,  that  no  naA^iga- 
tion  act  should  be  passed  without  the  assent  of  two  thirds  of 
the  members  present  in  each  house. 

On  the  twenty-first  the  prohibition  to  tax  exports  was  car- 
ried by  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  with  the  five  most 
southern  states.  Thus  absolute  free  trade  as  to  exports  became 
a  part  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  United  States.  The  vote 
of  Virginia  was  due  to  Mason,  Eandolph,  and  Blair ;  "Washing- 
ton and  Madison  were  always  unwilling  to  seem  to  favor  a 
local  interest,  especially  a  southern  one,  and  were  ready  to 
trust  the  subject  to  the  general  government.* 

fFrom  Maryland  came  a  voice  against  the  slave-trade.  For 
three  reasons  Martin  proposed  to  prohibit  or  to  tax  the  impor- 
tation of  slaves :  "  The  importation  of  slaves  affects  the  ap- 
portionment of  representation,  weakens  one  part  of  the  union 
which  the  other  parts  are  bound  to  protect,  and  dishonors  the 
principles  of  the  revolution  and  the  American  character." 

Kutledge  answered  :  "  Religion  and  humanity  have  nothing 
to  do  with  this  question ;  interest  alone  is  the  governing  prin- 
ciple with  nations.  The  true  question  at  present  is,  whether 
the  southern  states  shall  or  shall  not  be  parties  to  the  union  ? 
If  the  northern  states  consult  their  interest  they  w^ill  not  oppose 
the  increase  of  slaves,  which  -^dll  increase  the  commodities,  of 
w^hich  they  will  become  the  carriers."  Ellsworth,  speaking 
consistently  with  the  respect  which  he  had  always  shown  for 
the  rights  of  the  states,  answered  :  "  I  am  for  leaving  the  clause 
as  it  stands.  Let  every  state  import  what  it  pleases.  The 
morality  or  wisdom  of  slavery  are  considerations  belonging  to 
the  states  themselves.  The  old  confederation  did  not  meddle 
with  this  point ;  and  I  do  not  see  any  greater  necessity  for 
bringing  it  within  the  policy  of  the  new  one."  "  South  Caro- 
lina," said  Charles  Pinckney,  "  can  never  receive  the  plan  if  it 
.     prohibits  the  slave-trade." 

The  debate  was  continued  through  the  next  day.  Sherman 
was  perplexed  between  his  belief  in  the  inherent  right  of  man 

*  Gilpin,  1388;  Elliot,  456. 


1787.  THE   POWERS  OF  C0:N"GRESS.  317 

to  freedom  and  the  tenet  of  the  right  of  each  state  to  settle 
for  itself  its  internal  affairs,  and  said :  "  I  disapprove  of  the 
slave-trade ;  yet,  as  the  states  are  now  possessed  of  the  right 
to  import  slaves,  and  as  it  is  expedient  to  have  as  few  objec- 
tions as  possible  to  the  proposed  scheme  of  government,  I 
think  it  best  to  leave  the  matter  as  we  find  it." 

Mason,  compressing  the  observation  of  a  long  life  into  a 
few  bm-ning  words,  replied :  "  This  infernal  trafiic  originated 
in  the  avarice  of  British  merchants ;  the  British  government 
constantly  checked  the  attempts  of  Yirginia  to  put  a  stop  to 
it.  The  present  question  concerns  not  the  importing  states 
alone,  but  the  whole  union.  Maryland  and  Yirginia  have  al- 
ready prohibited  tlie  importation  of  slaves  expressly;  North 
Carohna  has  done  the  same  in  substance.  All  this  would  be 
in  vain  if  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  be  at  liberty  to  import 
them.  The  western  people  are  already  calling  out  for  slaves 
for  their  new  lands,  and  will  fill  that  country  with  slaves  if 
they  can  be  got  through  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  Slavery 
discourages  arts  and  manufactures.  The  poor  despise  labor 
when  performed  by  slaves.  They  prevent  the  emigration  of 
whites,  who  really  enrich  and  strengthen  a  country.  They 
produce  the  most  pernicious  effect  on  manners.  Every  master 
of  slaves  is  born  a  petty  tyrant.  They  bring  the  judgment  of 
heaven  on  a  country.  As  nations  cannot  be  rewarded  or  pun- 
ished in  the  next  world,  they  must  be  in  this.  By  an  inevi- 
table chain  of  causes  and  effects,  Providence  punishes  national 
sins  by  national  calamities.  I  lament  that  some  of  our  eastern 
brethren  have,  from  a  lust  of  gain,  embarked  in  this  nefarious 
traffic.  As  to  the  states  being  in  possession  of  the  right  to 
import,  this  is  the  case  with  many  other  rights,  now  to  be  prop- 
erly given  up.  I  hold  it  essential  in  every  point  of  view,  that 
the  general  government  should  have  power  to  prevent  the  in- 
crease of  slavery."  Mason  spoke  from  his  inmost  soul,  anxious 
for  freedom  and  right,  for  the  happiness  of  his  country  and  the 
welfare  of  mankind. 

To  words  of  such  intense  sincerity  Ellsworth  answered  with 
almost  mocking  irony :  "  As  I  have  never  owned  a  slave  I  can- 
not judge  of  the  effects  of  slavery  on  character.  If,  however, 
it  is  to  be  considered  in  a  moral  light,  we  ought  to  go  further 


318  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.       b.  m. ;  ch.  viii. 

and  free  the  slaves  already  in  the  country.  Besides,  slaves 
multiply  so  fast  in  Yirginia  and  Maryland  that  it  is  cheaper 
to  raise  than  import  them,  whilst  in  the  sickly  rice-swamps 
foreign  supplies  are  necessary ;  if  we  go  no  further  than  is 
urged,  we  shall  be  unjust  toward  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
Let  us  not  intermeddle.  As  population  increases,  poor  labor- 
ers will  be  so  plenty  as  to  render  slaves  useless.  Slavery,  in 
time,  will  not  be  a  speck  in  our  country.  Provision  is  made 
in  Connecticut  for  abolishing  it ;  and  the  abolition  has  already 
taken  place  in  Massachusetts." 

"  If  the  southern  states  are  let  alone,"  said  Charles  Pinck- 
ney,  "  they  will  probably  of  themselves  stop  importations.  I 
would  myself,  as  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina,  vote  for  it." 

In  the  same  vein  Cotesworth  Pinckney  remarked :  "  If  I 
and  all  my  colleagues  were  to  sign  the  constitution  and  use  our 
personal  influence,  it  would  be  of  no  avail  toward  obtaining 
the  assent  of  our  constituents.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
cannot  do  without  slaves.  Virginia  will  gain  by  stopping  the 
importations.  Her  slaves  will  rise  in  value,  and  she  has  more 
than  she  wants.  It  would  be  unequal  to  require  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  to  confederate  on  such  terms.  Slaves  should 
be  dutied  like  other  imports  ;  but  a  rejection  of  the  clause  is 
the  exclusion  of  South  Carolina  from  the  union."  Baldwin, 
with  opinions  on  the  rights  of  the  states  like  those  of  Ells- 
worth and  Sherman,  continued :  "  The  object  before  the  con- 
vention is  not  national,  but  local.  Georgia  cannot  purchase 
the  advantage  of  a  general  government  by  yielding  the  abridg- 
ment of  one  of  her  favorite  prerogatives.  If  left  to  herself, 
she  may  probably  put  a  stop  to  the  evil." 

"  If  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,"  observed  Wilson,  "  are 
themselves  disposed  to  get  rid  of  the  importation  of  slaves  in  a 
short  time,  they  will  never  refuse  to  unite  because  the  impor- 
tation might  be  prohibited."  To  this  Cotesworth  Pinckney 
made  answer:  "I  think  myseH  bound  to  declare  candidly 
that  I  do  not  believe  South  Carolina  will  stop  her  importa- 
tions of  slaves  in  any  short  time,  except  occasionally  as  she 
now  does." 

"  On  every  principle  of  honor  and  safety,"  said  Dickinson, 
"  it  is  inadmissible  that  the  importation  of  slaves  should  be 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  319 

authorized  to  the  states  by  the  constitation.  The  true  ques-" 
tion  is  whether  the  national  happiness  will  be  promoted  or 
impeded  by  the  importation ;  and  this  question  ought  to  be 
left  to  the  national  government,  not  to  the  states  particularly 
interested.  I  cannot  believe  that  the  southern  states  will  refuse 
to  confederate  on  that  account,  as  the  power  is  not  likely  to  be 
immediately  exorcised  by  the  general  government."  Here  was 
the  opening  to  a  grant  of  the  power,  coupled  with  a  prospect ' 
of  delay  in  using  it. 

Williamson,  himself  no  friend  of  slavery,  distinctly  inti- 
mated that  North  Carolina  would  go  with  her  two  neighbors 
on  the  south.  Cotesworth  Pinckney  now  moved  to  commit 
the  clause,  that  slaves  might  be  made  liable  to  an  equal  tax 
with  other  imports.  "  If  the  convention,"  said  Rutledge, 
"  thinks  that  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  will 
ever  agree  to  the  plan,  unless  their  right  to  import  slaves  be 
untouched,  the  expectation  is  vain  ; "  and  he  seconded  the  mo- 
tion for  a  commitment.  Gouvemeur  Morris  wished  the  whole 
subject  to  be  committed,  including  the  clauses  relating  to 
taxes  on  exports  and  to  a  navigation  act.  These  things  might 
form  a  bargain  among  the  northern  and  southern  states. 
"Eather  than  to  part  with  the  southern  states,"  said  Sherman, 
"  it  is  better  to  let  them  import  slaves.  But  a  tax  on  slaves 
imported  makes  the  matter  worse,  because  it  implies  they  are 
property." 

"  Two  states,"  said  Randolph,  "  may  be  lost  to  the  union ; 
let  us,  then,  try  the  chance  of  a  commitment."  The  motion 
for  commitment  was  adopted  by  the  votes  of  Connecticut,  New 
Jersey,  and  the  five  southernmost  states,  against  New  Hamp- 
shire, Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware;  Massachusetts  was  ab- 
sent. 

Charles  Pinckney  and  Langdon  then  moved  to  commit  the 
section  relating  to  a  navigation  act.  "  I  desire  it  to  be  remem- 
bered," said  Gorham,  remotely  hinting  at  possible  secession, 
"  the  eastern  states  have  no  motive  to  union  but  a  commercial 
one."  Ellsworth,  maintaining  the  position  which  he  had  de- 
liberately chosen,  answered :  "  I  am  for  taking  the  plan  as  it  is. 
If  we  do  not  agree  on  this  middle  and  moderate  ground,  I  am 
afraid  we  shaU  lose  two  states  with  others  that  may  stand  aloof ; 


320  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.        b.  iii. ;  ch.  viii. 

and  fly,  most  probably,  into  several  confederations,  not  without 
bloodshed."  * 

Had  the  convention  listened  to  no  compromise  on  the 
slave-trade,  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  would  not  have  ac- 
cepted the  new  constitution ;  IS^orth  Carolina  would  have  clung 
to  them,  from  its  internal  condition ;  Virginia,  however  earnest 
might  have  been  the  protest  against  it  by  Madison  and  Wash- 
ington, must  have  acted  with  J^orth  CaroHna,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, there  would  from  the  beginning  have  been  a  federa- 
tion of  slave-holding  states.  The  committee  to  which  the 
whole  subject  of  restriction  on  the  power  over  commerce  was 
referred  consisted  of  Langdon,  King,  Johnson,  the  aged  Will- 
iam Livingston  of  New  Jersey,  Clymer,  Dickinson,  Martin, 
Madison,  Williamson,  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  and  Baldwin,f  a 
large  majority  of  them  venerable  for  uprightness  and  ability. 
Their  report,  made  on  the  twenty-fourth,  denied  to  the  United 
States  the  power  to  prohibit  the  slave-trade  prior  to  the  year 
1800,  but  granted  the  power  to  impose  a  tax  or  duty  on  sucli 
migration  or  importation  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  the  average 
of  the  duties  laid  on  imports,  f 

On  the  twenty-fifth,  when  the  report  of  the  committee  of 
eleven  was  taken  up,  Cotesworth  Pinckney  immediately  moved 
to  extend  the  time  allowed  for  the  importation  of  slaves  till 
the  year  1808.  Gorham  was  his  second.  Madison  spoke  ear- 
nestly against  the  prolongation  ;  *  but,  without  further  debate, 
the  motion  prevailed  by  the  votes  of  the  three  New  England 
states,  Maryland,  and  the  three  southernmost  states,  against 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Virginia.  || 

Sherman  once  more  resisted  the  duty  "  as  acknowledging 
men  to  be  property  "  by  taxing  them  as  such  under  the  char- 
acter of  slaves  ;  and  Madison  supported  him,  saying :  "  I  think 
it  wrong  to  admit  in  the  constitution  the  idea  that  there  can 
be  property  in  men."  ^  But,  as  the  impost  which  had  been 
proposed  on  all  imported  articles  was  of  five  per  cent  and  the 
slave  was  deemed  to  have  an  average  value  of  two  hundred 
dollars,  the  rate  was  fixed  definitively  at  ten  dollars  on  every 

*  Gilpin,  1388-1396  ;  Elliot,  4&6-461.  #  Gilpin,  1427  ;  Elliot,  477. 

f  Gilpin,  1397;  Elliot,  461.  |  Gilpin,  1429;  Elliot,  478. 

i  Gilpin,  1415  ;  Elliot,  471.  ^  Gilpin,  1429,  1430  ;  Elliot,  473. 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  321 

imported  slave,  and  tlie  clause  tlius  amended  was  unanimously 
held  fast  as  a  discouragement  of  the  traffic. 

"  It  ought  to  be  considered,"  wrote  Madison  near  the  time, 
"  as  a  great  point  gained  in  favor  of  humanity,  that  a  period  of 
twenty  years  may  terminate  forever  within  these  states  a  traffic 
which  has  so  long  and  so  loudly  upbraided  the  barbarism  of 
modern  poHcy.  Happy  would  it  be  for  the  unfortunate  Afri- 
cans if  an  equal  prospect  lay  before  them  of  being  redeemed 
from  the  oppressions  of  their  European  brethren !  "  * 

The  confederation  granted  no  power  to  interfere  with  the 
slave-trade.  The  new  constitution  gave  power  to  prohibit  it  in 
new  states  immediately  on  their  admission,  in  existing  states  at 
the  end  of  the  year  1807.  Louisiana,  by  annexation  to  the 
union,  lost  the  license  to  receive  slaves  from  abroad.  On  the 
second  day  of  December  1806,  Thomas  Jefferson,  president  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  addressed  this  message  to  con- 
gress :  f  "  I  congratulate  you,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  approach 
of  the  period  at  which  you  may  interpose  your  authority  con- 
stitutionally to  withdraw  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  from 
all  further  participation  in  those  violations  of  human  rights 
which  have  been  so  long  continued  on  the  unoffending  inhabit- 
ants of  Africa,  and  which  the  morality,  the  reputation,  and  the 
best  interests  of  our  country  have  long  been  eager  to  pro- 
scribe." 

Unanimous  legislation  followed  the  words  from  the  presi- 
dent, and,  as  the^year  ISO^Jbroke  upon  the  United  States,  the 
invportntion  of  slaves  had  censerl.  And  did  slavery  have  as 
peaceful  an  end  ?  Philanthropy,  like  genius  and  like  science, 
must  bide  its  time.  Man  cannot  hurry  the  supreme  power, 
to  which  years  are  as  days. 

Two  members  of  the  convention,  with  the  sincere  integrity 
which  clears  the  eye  for  prophetic  vision,  read  the  doom  of 
slave-holding.  Mason,  fourteen  years  before,  in  a  paper  pre- 
pared for  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  had  given  his  opinion 
that  as  the  natural  remedy  for  political  injustice  the  constitu- 
tion should  by  degrees  work  itself  clear  by  its  own  innate/ 
strength,  the  virtue  and  resolution  of  the  community;  andl 
added :  "  The  laws  of  impartial  Providence  may  avenge  upon  ] 

*  The  Federalist,  No.  xlii.  f  Journals  of  Congress,  v.,  468. 

TOL.  VI. — 21 


322  THE   FEDERAL  CONVENTION.       b.  hi.  ;  ch.  viii. 

our  posterity  the  injury  done  to  a  set  of  wretclies  whom  our 
injustice  hath  debased  almost  to  a  level  with  the  brute  creation. 
These  remarks  were  extorted  by  a  kind  of  irresistible,  perhaps 
an  enthusiastic,  impulse  ;  and  the  author  of  them,  conscious  of 
his  own  good  intentions,  cares  not  whom  they  please  or  of- 
fend." * 

During  a  previous  debate  on  tlie  value  of  slaves.  Mason 
had  observed  of  them  that  they  might  in  cases  of  emergency 
themselves  become  soldiers.f  On  the  twenty-second  of  Au- 
gust J  he  called  to  mind  that  Cromwell,  when  he  sent  commis- 
sioners to  Virginia  to  take  possession  of  the  country,  gave  them 
power  to  arm  servants  and  slaves.  He  further  pointed  out 
that  the  British  might  have  prevailed  in  the  South  in  the  war 
of  the  revolution  had  they  known  how  to  make  use  of  the 
slaves ;  that  in  Virginia  the  royal  governor  invited  them  to 
rise  at  a  time  wlien  he  was  not  in  possession  of  the  country, 
and,  as  the  slaves  were  incapable  of  self -organization  and  direc- 
tion, his  experiments  by  proclamation,  addressed  to  them  in 
regions  not  within  his  sway,  totally  failed ;  but  that  in  South 
Carolina,  where  the  British  were  in  the  full  possession  of  the 
country,  they  might  have  enfranchised  the  slaves  and  enrolled 
them  for  the  consoUdation  and  establishment  of  the  royal  au- 
/(  thority.  But  the  civil  and  military  officers  in  those  days  of 
a/ y  abject  corruption  chose  rather  to  enrich  themselves  by  ship- 
I  ping  the  slaves  to  the  markets  of  the  West  Indies.      Five 

)lnonths  later  Madison,  in  a  paper  addressed  to  the  country,  re- 
marked :  "  An  unliappy  species  of  population  abounds  in  some 
of  the  states  who,  during  the  calm  of  the  regular  government, 
are  sunk  below  the  level  of  men  ;  but  who,  in  the  tempestuous 
scenes  of  civil  violence,  may  emerge  into  the  human  character, 
and  give  a  superiority  of  strength  to  any  party  with  which 
they  may  associate  themselves."*  Slave-holding  was  to  be 
borne  down  on  the  field  of  battle. 

The  dignity  and  interests  of  the  United  States  alike  de- 

*  George  Mason's  extracts  from  the  Virginia  charters,  with  some  remarks  on 
them,  made  in  the  year  1773.  MS.  The  paper,  though  communicated  to  the 
legislature  of  Virginia,  has  not  been  found  in  its  archives.  My  copy,  which  is, 
perhaps,  the  only  one  now  in  existence,  I  owe  to  the  late  James  M.  Mason. 

f  Gilpin,  1068  ;  Elliot,  296.  t  Gilpin,  1390  ;  Elliot,  458. 

*  Madison  in  the  Federalist,  No.  xliii.,  published  25  January  1788. 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS.  323 

manded  a  grant  of  power  to  tlie  general  government  for  tlie 
regulation  of  foreign  as  well  as  domestic  trade.     "Without  it  the 
navigation  of  the  country  would  have  been  at  the  mercy  of 
foreign  restrictions.     For  this  regulation  the  new  constitution 
required,  as  in  all  other  acts  of  legislation,  no  more  than  a  ma- 
jority of  the  two  houses  of  congress.     A  strong  opposition 
started  up  in  the  South  under  the  lead  of  Charles  Pinckney 
and  Martin,  inflamed  by  Mason  and  by  Randolph ;  but  it  was 
in  vain.     On  the  twenty-ninth,  Madison,  Spaight,  and  Rutledge 
defended  the  report  of  the  eleven  like  statesmen,  free  from  local 
influences  or  prejudice.     It  was  clearly  stated  that  the  ships  of^ 
nations  in  treaty  with  the  United  States  would  share  in  their  / 
carrying  trade ;  that  a  rise  in  freight  could  be  but  temporary,  I 
because  it  would  be  attended  by  an  increase  of  southern  as  well  /  .  / 
as  of  northern  shipping  ;  that  the  West  India  trade  was  a  great  / 
object  to  be  obtained  only  through  the  pressure  of  a  navigation 
act.     Cotesworth  Pinckney  owned  that  he  had  been  prejudiced^ 
against  the  eastern  states,  but  had  found  their  delegates  as 
liberal  and  as  candid  as  any  men  whatever.     On  the  question, 
Delaware  and  South  Carolina  joined  the  united  IN'orth  against 
Maryland,  Virginia,  ]N"orth  Carolina,  and  Georgia.     After  this"^ 
vote   the   convention   accepted   unanimously  the   proposition  I 
to  grant  to  the  majority  in  the  two  branches  of  congress  full  \ 
power  to   make  laws   regulating  commerce  and  navigation.  ( 
Randolph  was  so  much  dissatisfied  that  he  expressed  a  "  doubt  I 
whether  he  should  be  able  to  agree  to  the  constitution."    Mason,  j 
more  deeply  in  earnest,  as  yet  held  his  emotions  in  check. 

Of  new  states,  the  Virginia  plan  knew  those  only  ''  lawfully 
arising  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,"  and  for  their 
admission  vaguely  required  less  than  a  unanimous  vote ;  the 
committee  of  detail  demanded  the  consent  of  two  thirds  of  each 
house  of  congress,  as  well  as  the  concurrence  of  the  states  with- 
in whose  "  limits  "  the  new  states  should  arise. 

At  this  stage  Gouverneur  Morris  enlarged  the  scope  and  sim- 
plified the  language  of  the  article.  The  confederation  had 
opened  the  door  to  Canada  at  its  own  choice  alone,  and  to  any 
other  territory  that  could  obtain  the  consent  of  two  thirds  of  con- 
gress. It  was  no  longer  decent  to  hold  out  to  Canada  an  invi- 
tation to  annex  itseK  to  the  union ;  but  the  American  mind,  in 


324:  THE   FEDEKAL  CONYENTIOK       b.  iii. ;  en.  viii. 

the  strength  of  independence,  foresaw  its  expansion.  The 
rising  states  beyond  the  mountains  were  clamorons  for  the  un- 
obstructed navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  which  might  lead  to 
the  acquisition  by  treaty  of  all  the  land  east  of  that  river; 
and  the  boundary  on  the  south,  as  well  of  Georgia  as  of 
Florida,  had  never  been  adjusted  with  Spain.  Gouverneur 
'Morris  had  at  an  early  day  desired  to  restrict  the  limits  of  the 
United  States  ;  he  now  gave  his  ancient  fears  to  the  winds,  and, 
acceding  in  advance  to  the  largest  eventual  annexations,  he 
proposed  these  few  and  simple  words :  "  JN'ew  States  may  be 
admitted  by  the  legislature  into  the  union/'  with  the  full  un- 
derstanding and  intention  that  an  ordinary  act  of  legislation 
should  be  sufficient  by  a  bare  majority  to  introduce  foreign 
territory  as  a  state  into  the  union.^  This  clause  the  convention 
accepted  without  a  debate,  and  without  a  division. 

On  the  thirtieth,  Maryland,  impelled  by  a  desire  to  guard 
the  right  of  the  United  States  to  the  back  lands,  and  to  be  the 
champion  of  Kentucky,  of  Maine,  of  Vermont,  and  of  the 
settlements  on  the  Tennessee  river  and  its  branches,  would 
have  granted  to  the  legislature  of  the  United  States  unlimited 
power  to  dismember  old  states,  but  was  supported  only  by 
Delaware  and  New  Jersey.  Vermont  might  once  have  been 
included  within  "  the  limits "  of  New  York,  but  certainly  re- 
mained no  longer  within  its  jurisdiction.  By  changing  the 
word  "limits"  to  "jurisdiction,"  the  convention,  still  follow- 
ing Gouverneur  Morris,  provided  for  its  future  admission  to 
the  union  without  the  consent  of  New  York.  In  regard  to  the 
south-western  settlements,  the  preliminary  consent  of  the  states 
of  which  they  then  formed  a  part  was  not  dispensed  with.  In 
like  manner  no  state  could  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two 
or  more  states  or  parts  thereof  without  the  concurrence  of  such 
states.  The  country  north-west  of  the  Ohio  having  already 
been  provided  for,  the  rule  for  the  admission  of  new  states  was 
thus  completed  for  every  part  of  the  territory  of  the  states  or 
of  the  United  States.  The  convention,  still  using  the  language 
of  Gouverneur  Morris,  and  no  one  but  Maryland  dissenting, 
assigned  to  the  legislature  the  power  to  dispose  of  and  make 

*  Gilpin,  1458  ;  Elliot,  493.     Life  and  Writings  of  GouTerneur   Morris  by 
Sparks,  iii.,  183,  185,  290.     Cooley's  Story,  1282,  etc. 


1787.  THE  POWERS  OF  COJS^GPwESS.  325 

all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or 
other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States. 

Every  word  in  the  constitution  bearing  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  was  chosen  with  the  greatest  caution ;  every  agreement 
was  jealously  guarded.  After  the  section  relating  to  the  slave- 
trade,  the  committee  of  detail  inserted :  "  No  capitation  tax 
shall  be  laid  unless  in  proportion  to  the  census  hereinbefore 
directed  to  be  taken."  *  This  was  intended  to  prevent  con- 
gress from  enforcing  a  general  emancipation  by  the  special 
taxation  of  slaves.f 

*  Gilpin,  1234,  1415  ;  Elliot,  379,  471, 

f  Speech  of  Baldwin  in  the  house  of  representatives,  12  February  1790. 


326  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.    b.  iii. ;  ch.  ix. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

the  president. 
July,  August,  and  September  1787. 

How  to  call  fortli  one  of  the  people  to  be  their  executive 
chief  for  a  limited  period  of  years,  and  how  to  clothe  him  with 
just  sufficient  powers,  long  baffled  the  convention.  Federal 
governments,  in  G-reece,  in  Switzerland,  and  in  Holland,  like 
the  confederation  of  the  United  States,  had  been  without  a 
separate  executive  branch  ;  and  the  elective  monarchies  of  Po- 
land, of  the  Papal  states,  and  of  Germany,  offered  no  available 
precedents.  The  report  of  the  committee  of  detail  of  the  sixth 
of  August  introduced  no  improvement  in  the  manner  of  select- 
ing a  president ;  and  it  transferred  to  the  senate  the  power  to 
make  treaties  and  to  appoint  ambassadors  and  judges  of  the 
supreme  court.*  Questions  relating  to  his  duties  long  remained 
in  doubt ;  the  mode  of  his  election  was  reached  only  just  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  convention. 

The  Virginia  plan  confided  the  choice  of  the  executive  to 
the  national  legislature.  "  An  election  by  the  national  legisla- 
ture," objected  Gouverneur  Morris,  on  the  seventeenth  of 
July,  "  will  be  the  work  of  intrigue,  of  cabal,  of  corruption, 
and  of  faction ;  it  will  be  like  the  election  of  a  pope  by  a  con- 
clave of  cardinals ;  of  a  king  by  the  diet  of  Poland ;  real  merit 
will  rarely  be  the  title  to  the  appointment."  He  moved  for 
an  election  by  the  "  citizens  of  the  United  States."  f  Sherman 
preferred  a  choice  by  the  national  legislature.  Wilson  insisted 
on  an  election  by  the  people ;  should  no  one  have  a  majority, 
then,  and  then  only,  the  legislature  might  decide  between  the 

*  Gilpin,  1234 ;  Elliot,  379.  f  Gilpin,  1120;  Elliot,  322. 


1787.  THE  PRESIDENT.  327 

candidates.^  Charles  Pinckney  opposed  the  election  by  the 
people,  because  it  would  surrender  the  choice  to  a  combination 
of  the  populous  states  led  by  a  few  designing  men.f  "  To  refer 
the  choice  of  a  proper  character  for  a  chief  magistrate  to  the 
people,"  protested  Mason,  "  would  be  as  unnatural  as  to  refer  a 
trial  of  colors  to  a  blind  man."  J  "  An  election  by  the  people," 
observed  "Williamson,  "is  an  appointment  by  lot."  On  the 
first  vote  Pennsylvania  stood  alone  against  nine  states.  Martin 
proposed  to  intrust  the  appointment  to  the  legislatures  of  the 
states ;  and  was  supported  only  by  Delaware  and  Maryland. 

On  the  mode  of  choosing  the  president,  the  length  of  his 
period  of  office  and  his  re-eligibility  would  be  made  to  depend. 
The  convention,  in  committee,  had  fixed  that  period  at  seven 
years  with  a  prohibition  of  re-election.  On  the  motion  of 
"William  Houston  of  Georgia,  supported  by  Sherman  and 
Gouverneur  Morris,  this  compulsory  rotation  was  struck 
out  by  six  states,  against  Delaware,  Virginia,  and  the  two 
Carolinas.  The  executive  becoming  re-eligible,  Jacob  Broom 
of  Delaware  revived  the  idea  of  a  shorter  period  of  service. 
McClurg  held  that  the  independence  of  the  executive  was  no 
less  essential  than  the  independence  of  the  judiciary ;  that  a 
president,  elected  for  a  small  number  of  years  by  the  national 
legislature,  and  looking  to  that  body  for  re-election,  would  be 
its  dependent.  To  escape  from  corrupt  cabals  and  yet  preserve 
a  good  officer  in  place,  he  moved  that  the  tenure  of  office  should 
be  good  behavior.  Gouverneur  Morris  beamed  with.  joy. 
Broom  found  all  his  difficulties  obviated.  "  Such  a  tenure," 
interposed  Sherman,  "  is  neither  safe  nor  admissible ;  re-elec- 
tion will  depend  on  good  behavior."  * 

Madison,  who  to  the  last  refused  with  unabated  vigor  to  in- 
trust the  choice  of  the  national  executive  to  the  national  legis- 
lature, and  at  heart  would  not  have  been  greatly  disinclined 
to  the  longest  period  of  service  for  the  executive  if  "  an  easy 
and  effectual  removal  by  impeachment  could  have  been  set- 
tled," II  argued  from  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  executive, 
legislative,  and  judiciary  powers  independent  of  each  other, 

*  Gilpin,  1121 ;  Elliot,  323.  X  Gilpin,  1123;  Elliot,  324. 

f  Gilpin,  1121  ;  Elliot,  323.  #  Gilpin,  1125,  1126;  Elliot,  325. 

11  Madison's  Writings,  i,  345  ;  Gilpin,  1127;  Elliot,  326. 


328  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  iii.  ;  oh.  ix. 

tliat  the  tenure  of  good  behavior  for  the  executive  was  a  less 
evil  than  its  dependence  on  the  national  legislature  for  re- 
election. 

Mason  replied:  "An  executive  during  good  behavior  is 
only  a  softer  name  for  an  executive  for  life ;  the  next  easy- 
step  will  be  to  hereditary  monarchy.  Should  the  motion  suc- 
ceed, I  may  myself  live  to  see  such  a  revolution."  "  To  pre- 
vent the  introduction  of  monarchy,"  rejoined  Madison,  "is, 
with  me,  the  real  object.  Experience  proves  a  tendency  in  our 
governments  to  throw  all  power  into  the  legislative  vortex. 
The  executives  of  the  states  are  in  general  little  more  than 
ciphers ;  the  legislatures  omnipotent.  If  no  effectual  check  be 
devised  on  the  encroachments  of  the  latter,  a  revolution  will 
be  inevitable."  After  explanations  by  McClurg,  four  states — 
'New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Virginia,  Madison 
voting  with  McClurg — expressed  their  preference  for  the  ten- 
ure of  good  behavior  to  the  tenure  of  seven  years  with  a  per- 
petual re-eligibility  by  the  national  legislature.*  Massachu- 
setts was  among  the  six  states  in  the  negative,  though  to  King, 
who  "relied  on  the  vigor  of  the  executive  as  a  great  security 
for  the  public  liberties,"  the  tenure  of  good  behavior  would 
have  been  most  agreeable,  "  provided  an  independent  and  ef- 
fectual forum  could  be  devised  for  the  trial  of  the  executive  on 
an  impeachment."  f 

This  discussion  brought  the  convention  unanimously  if  to 
the  opinion  that  if  the  executive  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  na- 
tional legislature,  he  ought  not  to  be  re-eligible.  Those,  there- 
fore, who  agreed  with  Sherman,  that  the  statesman  who  had 
proved  himself  most  fit  for  an  office  ought  not  to  be  excluded 
by  the  constitution  from  holding  it,  were  bound  to  devise  some 
other  acceptable  mode  of  election. 

The  first  thought  was  an  immediate  choice  by  the  people. 
But  here  Madison  pointed  out  that  "  the  right  of  suffrage  was 
much  more  diffusive  in  the  northern  states  than  in  the  south- 
ern ;  and  that  the  latter  would  have  no  influence  in  the  election 
on  the  score  of  the  negroes."  *  To  meet  this  difficulty.  King 
revived  Wilson's  proposition  for  the  appointment  of  the  ex- 

*  Gilpin,  1127, 1128,  1129  ;  Elliot,  326,  327.         t  Gilpin,  1147;  Elliot,  337. 
f  Gilpin,  1157  ;  Elliot,  342.  »  Gilpin,  1148 ;  Elliot,  337. 


1787.  THE  PRESIDENT.  329 

ecntive  by  electors  cliosen  by  the  people  expressly  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  *  and  Madison  promptly  accepted  it  as,  "  on  the  whole, 
liable  to  fewest  objections."  f  So,  too,  in  part,  thought  the 
convention,  which,  on  the  motion  of  Ellsworth,  decided,  by  six 
states  to  three,  that  the  national  executive  should  be  appointed 
by  electors ;  and,  by  eight  states  to  two,  that  the  electors  should 
be  chosen  by  the  state  legislatures.  J  From  confidence  in  the 
purity  of  the  electoral  body  thus  established,  the  re-eligibility 
of  the  executive  was  again  affirmed  by  a  vote  of  eight  states 
against  the  two  Carolinas  ;  *  and,  in  consequence  of  the  re-eli- 
gibility, the  term  of  office  was,  at  Ellsworth's  motion,  reduced 
by  the  vote  of  all  the  states  but  Delaware  from  seven  years  to 
six.  II  So  the  convention  hoped  to  escape  from  the  danger  of 
a  corrupt  traffic  between  the  national  legislature  and  candidates 
for  the  executive  by  assembling  in  one  place  one  grand  elec- 
toral college,  chosen  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  electing  that  officer. 

To  this  system  Caleb  Strong  of  Massachusetts  started  this 
grave  objection :  "  A  new  set  of  men,  like  the  electors,  will 
make  the  government  too  complex ;  nor  will  the  first  charac- 
ters in  the  state  feel  sufficient  motives  to  undertake  the  office."  "^ 
On  the  previous  day  Houston  of  Georgia  had  directed  the 
thoughts  of  the  convention  "  to  the  expense  and  extreme  in- 
convenience of  drawing  together  men  from  all  the  states  for 
the  single  purpose  of  electing  the  chief  magistrate."  ()  To  him, 
likewise,  it  now  seemed  improbable  that  capable  men  would 
undertake  the  service.  He  was  afraid  to  trust  to  it.  Moved 
by  these  considerations,  but  still  retaining  its  conviction  of  the 
greater  purity  of  an  electoral  college,  the  convention,  by  seven 
votes  against  four,  in  the  weariness  of  vacillation,  returned  to 
the  plan  of  electing  the  national  executive  by  the  national  legis- 
lature. J  But  the  vote  was  sure  to  reopen  the  question  of 
his  re-eligibility. 

The  convention  was  now  like  a  pack  of  hounds  in  full  chase, 
suddenly  losing  the  trail.     It  fell  into  an  anarchy  of  opinion, 

*  Gilpin,  1147;  Elliot,  336.  |  Gilpin,  llRl,  1152;  Elliot,  389. 
f  Gilpin,  1148 ;  Elliot,  337.                      ^  Gilpin,  1189  ;  Elliot,  358. 

X  Gilpin,  1150;  Elliot,  338.  0  Gilpin,  1186;  Elliot,  357. 

#  Gilpin,  1150,  1151 ;  Elliot,  338.  i  Gilpin,  1190 ;  Elliot,  359. 


330  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  ix. 

and  one  crude  sclieme  trod  on  the  heels  of  another.  "William- 
son, pleading  the  essential  difference  of  interests  between  the 
northern  and  southern  states,  particularly  relating  to  the  carry- 
ing trade,  "  wished  the  executive  power  to  be  lodged  in  three 
men,  taken  from  three  districts,  into  which  the  states  should 
be  divided."*  "At  some  time  or  other,"  said  he,  "we  shall 
have  a  king ;  to  postpone  the  event  as  long  as  possible,  I  would 
render  the  executive  ineligible."  f 

In  the  event  of  the  ineligibility  of  the  executive,  Martin, 
forgetting  the  state  of  anarchy  and  faction  that  would  attend  a 
long  period  of  service  by  an  incompetent  or  unworthy  incum- 
bent, proposed  that  the  term  of  executive  service  should  be 
eleven  years.  J  "  From  ten  to  twelve,"  said  Williamson.* 
"  Fifteen,"  said  Gerry ;  and  King  mocked  them  all  by  propos- 
ing "  twenty  years,  the  medium  life  of  princes."  ||  Wilson, 
seeing  no  way  of  introducing  a  direct  election  by  the  people, 
made  the  motion^  that  the  executive  should  be  chosen  by 
electors  to  be  taken  from  the  national  legislature  by  lot. 

Ellsworth,  on  the  twenty-fifth,  pointed  out  that  to  secure 
a  candidate  for  re-election  against  an  improper  dependence 
on  the  legislature,  the  choice  should  be  made  by  electors.^ 
Madison  Hked  best  an  election  of  the  executive  by  the  quali- 
fied part  of  the  people  at  large.  "Local  considerations,"  he 
said,  "must  give  way  to  the  general  interest.  As  an  indi- 
vidual from  the  southern  states,  I  am  willing  to  make  the 
sacrifice."  J 

And  now  came  into  consideration  an  element  which  exer- 
cised a  constant  bias  on  the  discussion  to  the  last.  Ellsworth 
complained  that  the  executive  would  invariably  be  taken  from 
one  of  the  larger  states.  "To  cure  the  disadvantage  under 
which  an  election  by  the  people  would  place  the  smaller  states," 
Williamson  proposed  that  each  man  should  vote  for  three  can- 
didates. ^  Gouverneur  Morris  accepted  the  principle,  but  de- 
sired to  limit  the  choice  of  the  voters  to  two,  of  whom  at  least 

*  Gilpin,  1180;  Elliot,  353.  f  Gilpin,  1191  ;  Elliot,  360. 
f  Gilpin,  1189,  1190 ;  Elliot,  359.  ^  Gilpin,  1196  ;  Elliot,  362. 
i  Gilpin,  1191 ;  Elliot,  360.  ^  Gilpin,  1198 ;  Elliot,  363. 

*  Gilpin,  1190;  Elliot,  359.  ^  Gilpin,  1201;  Elliot,  365. 

^  Gilpin,  1204  ;  Elliot,  366. 


1787.  THE  PRESIDENT.  331 

one  should  not  be  of  his  own  state.  This  Madison  approved, 
believing  that  the  citizens  would  give  their  second  vote  with 
sincerity  to  the  next  object  of  their  choice.*  We  shall  meet 
the  proposition  again. 

Lastly,  Dickinson  said :  "  Insuperable  objections  lie  against 
an  election  of  the  executive  by  the  national  legislature,  or  by 
the  legislatures  or  executives  of  the  states.  I  have  long  leaned 
toward  an  election  by  the  people,  which  I  regard  as  the  best 
and  the  purest  source.  Let  the  people  of  each  state  choose  its 
best  citizen,  and  out  of  the  thirteen  names  thus  selected  an  ex- 
ecutive  magistrate  may  be  chosen,  either  by  the  national  legis- 
lature  or  by  electors  appointed  by  it."  f 

From  hopelessness  of  an  agreement,  Gerry  and  Butler 
were  willing  to  refer  the  resolution  relating  to  the  executive 
to  a  committee,  but  Wilson  insisted  that  a  general  principle 
must  first  be  fixed  by  a  vote  of  the  house.  :j: 

On  the  morning  of  the  next  day  *  Mason  recapitulated  all 
the  seven  different  ways  that  had  been  proposed  of  electing 
the  chief  magistrate :  by  the  people  at  large ;  by  the  legisla- 
tures of  the  states ;  by  the  executives  of  the  states ;  by  electors 
chosen  by  the  people ;  by  electors  chosen  by  lot ;  by  the  legis- 
lature on  the  nomination  of  three  or  two  candidates  by  each 
several  state ;  by  the  legislature  on  the  nomination  of  one  can- 
didate from  each  state.  After  reviewing  them  all,  he  con- 
cluded that  an  election  by  the  national  legislature,  as  originally 
proposed,  was  the  best.  At  the  same  time  he  held  it  to  be  the 
very  palladium  of  civil  liberty,  that  the  great  ofiicers  of  state, 
and  particularly  the  executive,  should  at  fixed  periods  return 
to  that  mass  from  which  they  were  taken.  Led  for  the  mo- 
ment by  this  train  of  thought,  the  convention  by  six  states, 
against  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  with  Yirginia 
equally  divided,  resolved  that  a  national  executive  be  insti- 
tuted ;  to  consist  of  a  single  person ;  who  should  be  chosen  by 
the  national  legislature ;  for  the  term  of  seven  years  ;  and  be 
inehgible  a  second  time.  || 

Foremost  in  undiminished  disapproval  of  the  choice  of  the 
executive  by  the  legislature  were  Washington,  Madison,  Wil- 

*  Gilpin,  1205  ;  Elliot,  S67.  t  Gilpin,  1207;  Elliot,  368. 

f  Gilpin,  1206  ;  Elliot,  367.  *  Ibid.  ||  Gilpin,  1211  ;  Elliot,  370. 


332  THE  FEDEKAL  CONVENTIOK  b.  iii. ;  oh.  ix. 

son,  Gouvernenr  Morris,  and  Gerry ;  foremost  for  the  election 
by  that  body  were  Eutledge,  Mason,  and,  in  a  moderate  de- 
gree. Strong.  During  the  debate  Gouvernenr  Morris  had  de- 
clared :  "  Of  all  possible  modes  of  appointing  the  executive,  an 
election  by  the  people  is  the  best ;  an  election  by  the  legisla- 
ture is  the  worst.*  I  prefer  a  short  period  and  re-eligibility, 
but  a  diiferent  mode  of  election."  f  In  this  he  spoke  the 
mind  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  he  refused  to  accept  the  decision 
of  that  day  as  final. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  August  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee of  detail  relating  to  the  executive  came  before  the  con- 
vention. All  agreed  that  the  executive  power  should  be  vested 
in  a  single  person,  to  be  styled :  the  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America ;  and  none  questioned  that  his  title  might 
be :  His  Excellency.  J  According  to  the  report,  he  was  to  be 
elected  by  ballot  by  the  legislature  for  a  term  of  seven  years, 
but  might  not  be  elected  a  second  time.* 

The  strife  on  the  manner  of  his  election  revived.  Daniel 
Carroll  of  Maryland,  seconded  by  "Wilson,  renewed  the  mo- 
tion, that  he  should  be  elected  by  the  people ;  but  the  house 
was  weary  or  unprepared  to  reopen  the  subject,  and  at  the 
moment  the  motion  received  only  the  votes  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Delaware.  ||  Hutledge  then  moved  that  the  elec- 
tion of  the  president  be  made  by  the  legislature  in  "joint 
ballot." 

The  conducting  of  business,  especially  of  elections,  by  the 
two  branches  of  the  legislature  in  joint  session  was  from  early 
days  familiar  to  the  states,  and  was  at  that  time  established  in 
every  one  of  them  which  had  prepared  a  constitution  of  its 
own  with  two  branches  of  the  legislature,  so  that  the  regula- 
tions for  that  mode  of  choice  were  perfectly  well  understood. 
"New  Hampshire  had  had  the  experience  of  both  methods; 
many  of  its  officers  were  chosen  annually  by  joint  ballot,  while 
its  representatives  to  congress  were  appointed  by  the  concur- 
rent vote  of  the  two  houses.  Unhappily,  throughout  this  part 
of  the  work,  the  equal  vote  of  the  smaller  states  with  the  larger 

*  Gilpin,  1193,  1204  ;  Elliot,  361,  366.  *  Gilpin,  1236 ;  Elliot,  380. 

f  Gilpin,  1195  ;  Elliot,  362.  |  Gilpin,  1418 ;  Elliot,  472. 

X  Gilpin,  1417;  Elliot,  472. 


1787.  THE  PEESIDENT.  333 

ones  in  the  senate  persistently  biased  the  movements  of  the 
convention. 

In  the  special  interest  of  the  smaller  states  Sherman  ob- 
jected to  a  vote  of  the  two  houses  in  joint  ballot,  because  it 
would  deprive  the  senate  of  a  negative  on  the  more  numerous 
branch.  "  It  is  wrong,"  said  Gorham,  "  to  be  considering  at 
every  turn  whom  the  senate  will  represent ;  the  pubHc  good 
is  the  object  to  be  kept  in  view ;  delay  and  confusion  will  en- 
sue if  the  two  houses  vote  separately,  each  having  a  negative 
on  the  choice  of  the  other."  Dayton  and  Brearley,  following 
in  the  wake  of  Sherman,  opposed  a  joint  ballot,  as  impairing 
the  power  of  the  smaller  states;*  but  Langdon  of  JSTew 
Hampshire,  enlightened  by  experience  at  home,  dwelt  on  the 
great  difficulties  of  which  the  mode  of  separate  votes  by  the 
two  houses  was  productive ;  and,  like  a  good  patriot  as  he  was, 
he  approved  the  joint  ballot,  "though  unfavorable  to  l^ew 
Hampshire  as  a  small  state."  "Wilson  remarked  "that  the 
senate  might  have  an  interest  in  throwing  dilatory  obstacles  in 
the  way,  if  its  separate  concurrence  should  be  required."  On 
the  same  side  spoke  Madison;  and  the  motion  of  Kutledge 
prevailed  by  seven  states,  against  Connecticut,  l^ew  Jersey, 
Maryland,  and  Georgia.t 

These  four  states,  joined  by  Delaware,  then  demanded  that, 
on  the  joint  ballot,  the  vote  should  be  taken  by  states ;  the 
decision  turned  on  'New  Hampshire ;  and  following  the  patri- 
otic opinion  of  Langdon,  it  joined  the  five  larger  states  and 
negatived  the  proposal.  For  an  election  of  president,  a  ma- 
jority of  the  votes  of  the  members  present  was  required,  New 
Jersey  alone  dissenting.  J  "  In  case  the  votes  of  the  two 
highest  should  be  equal,"  Eead  of  Delaware,  taking  a  clause 
from  the  constitution  of  his  own  state,  moved  that  the  presi- 
dent of  the  senate  should  have  an  additional  vote  ;  but  it  was 
disagreed  to  by  a  general  negative. 

At  this  moment  Gouverneur  Morris  interposed  with  de- 
cisive effect.  He  set  forth  the  danger  of  legislative  tyranny 
that  would  follow  from  leaving  the  executive  dependent  on 
the  legislature  for  his  election ;  he  dwelt  once  more  on  the 

*  Gilpin,  1418 ;  Elliot,  472.  f  Gilpin,  1419  ;  Elliot,  473. 

X  Gilpin,  1420  ;  Elliot,  473. 


334  '        THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTIOK  b.  m. ;  ch.  ix. 

"  cabal  and  corruption  "  *  wliicli  would  attach  to  that  method 
of  choice.  The  plan  of  choosing  the  president  bj  electors, 
which  he  now  revived,  had  made  such  progress  that  five  states 
voted  with  him,  among  them  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  A 
reference  of  the  subject  to  a  committee  was  lost  for  the  mo- 
ment bj  a  tie  vote,  Connecticut  being  divided. f  But  opinion 
ripened  so  fast  that,  on  the  thirty-first  of  August,  the  mode  of 
choosing  the  president,  his  powers,  and  the  question  of  his  re- 
eligibility,  was  with  other  unfinished  business  referred  to  a 
grand  committee  of  one  from  each  state.  The  Eleven,  ap- 
pointed by  ballot,  were  Gilman,  King,  Sherman,  Brearley, 
Gouverneur  Morris,  Dicldnson,  Carroll,  Madison,  Williamson, 
Butler,  and  Baldwin.  J 

Gouverneur  Morris  had  loudly  put  forward  his  wish  to 
make  of  the  senate  a  thoroughly  aristocratic  body,  and  of  the 
president  a  tenant  for  life.  It  agreed  with  this  view  to  repose 
the  eventual  election  of  the  president  in  the  senate.  The 
electoral  colleges,  in  the  want  of  all  means  of  rapid  intercom- 
munication, would  have  rarely  cast  a  majority  for  one  man ; 
and  the  requisition  on  the  electors  to  vote  each  for  two  men 
increased  the  chances  that  there  would  be  no  election,  and  that 
one  of  the  candidates  at  least  would  be  a  citizen  of  a  smaller 
state.  He  was  aware  that  the  outgoing  president  would  be  apt 
to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election  ;  and  desired  nothing  better 
than  such  a  junction  between  the  president  and  senate  as  would 
secure  a  re-election  during  life. 

Sherman  hated  aristocracy  ;  but  he  was  specially  watchful 
of  the  equal  power  of  the  smaller  states,  and  saw  that,  on  the 
first  ballot  of  the  election,  the  large  states,  having  many  votes, 
would  always  bring  forward  their  candidates  with  superior 
strength.  To  gain  a  chance  for  electing  a  president  from  the 
small  states,  they  insisted  that,  in  case  there  should  be  no  elec- 
tion by  the  colleges,  not  less  than  five  names  should  be  reported 
as  candidates  for  the  eventual  election,  and  among  five  names 
there  was  a  great  probability  that  there  would  be  one  from  the 
smaller  states.  They  therefore  insisted  that  the  eventual  elec- 
tion should  be  made  by  the  senate  ;  and  this  was  carried  by  a 

*  Gilpin,  1420;  Elliot,  473.  f  Gilpin,  1421 ;  Elliot,  474. 

X  Gilpin,  1478  ;  Elliot,  503. 


1787.  THE  PRESIDENT.  335 

coalition  of  aristocratic  tendencies  in  Gouvemeur  Morris  and 
others  from  the  large  states  with  the  passion  of  the  small  states 
for  disproportionate  chances  for  power. 

The  committee,  having  considered  the  subject  in  all  its 
bearings,  made  their  report  on  the  fourth  daj  of  September.* 
The  term  of  the  presidency  was  limited  to  four  years ;  and  the 
election  was  confided  to  electors  to  be  appointed  in  each  state 
as  its  legislature  might  direct ;  and  to  be  equal  to  the  whole 
number  of  its  senators  and  representatives  in  congress  ;  so  that 
the  electoral  colleges  collectively  were  to  be  the  exact  counter- 
part of  the  joint  convention  of  the  legislature. 

The  electors  of  each  state  were  to  meet  f  in  their  respective 
states  and  vote  by  ballot  for  two  persons,  of  whom  one,  at  least, 
should  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  themselves. 
A  certified  list  of  these  votes,  under  the  seal  of  the  electoral 
college,  was  to  be  transmitted  to  the  president  of  the  senate.  J 

"  The  president  of  the  senate,"  discharging  a  purely  minis- 
terial ofiice,  "  shall  in  that  house  open  all  the  certificates,  and 
the  votes  shall  be  then  and  there  counted.  The  person  having 
the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall  be  the  president,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  that  of  the  electors  ;  and  if  there  be 
more  than  one  who  has  such  a  majority  and  an  equal  number 
of  votes — a  case  that  would  most  rarely,  perhaps  never,  occur — 
then  the  senate  shall-*''  choose  by  ballot  one  of  them  for  presi- 
dent ;  but  if  no  person  has  a  majority,  then,  from  the  five 
highest  on  the  list,  '  the  senate,' "  in  which  body  the  smallest 
state  had  an  equal  vote  with  the  largest,  "  shall  choose  by  ballot 
the  president."  "  After  the  choice  of  the  president,  the  per- 
son having  the  greatest  number  of  votes,"  whether  a  majority 
of  them  or  not,  '^  shall  be  vice-president" — an  officer  now  for 
the  first  time  introduced;  ^'but  if  there  should  remain  two  or 
more  who  have  equal  votes,  then  the  senate  shall  choose  from 
them  the  vice-president."  || 

Mason,  who  thought  the  insulated  electoral  colleges  would 
hardly  ever  unite  their  votes  on  one  man,  spoke  earnestly: 

*  Gilpin,  1485-148S  ;  Elliot,  606,  607.  f  Gilpin,  1486  ;  Elliot,  507. 
X  Ibid. 

*  "  Immediately,"  not  in  original  report.     It  was  inserted  6  September.     Gil- 
pin, 1509 ;  Elliot,  518,  and  i.,  283,  289.  ||  Gilpin,  1486,  1487  ;  Elliot,  507. 


336  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION".  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  ix. 

^'  The  plan  is  liable  to  this  strong  objection,  that  nineteen  times 
in  twenty  the  president  will  be  chosen  by  the  senate,  an  im- 
projDer  body  for  the  purpose."  To  the  objection  of  Charles 
Pinckney,  that  electors  would  be  strangers  to  the  several  can- 
didates, and  unable  to  decide  on  their  comparative  merits, 
Baldwin  answered:  "The  increasing  intercourse  among  the 
people  of  the  states  will  render  important  characters  less  and 
less  unknown."  *  "  This  subject,"  said  Wilson,  "  has  greatly 
divided  the  house,  and  will  divide  the  people.  It  is,  in  truth, 
the  most  difficult  of  all  on  which  we  have  had  to  decide.  I 
have  never  made  up  an  opinion  on  it  entirely  to  my  own  satis- 
faction." The  choice  by  electors  "  is,  on  the  whole,  a  valuable 
improvement  on  the  former  plan.  It  gets  rid  of  cabal  and 
corruption ;  and  continental  characters  will  multiply  as  we 
more  and  more  coalesce,  so  as  to  enable  the  electors  in  every 
part  of  the  union  to  know  and  judge  of  them.  It  clears  the 
way  for  a  discussion  of  the  question  of  the  re-eligibility  of  the 
president  on  its  own  merits,  which  the  former  mode  of  elec- 
tion seemed  to  forbid.  It  may,  however,  be  better  to  refer 
the  eventual  appointment  to  the  legislature  than  to  the  senate, 
and  to  confine  it  to  a  smaller  number  than  five  of  the  candi- 
dates." t 

"  I  wish  to  know,"  asked  Eandolph,  chiming  in  with  "Wil- 
son, "  why  the  eventual  election  is  referred  to  the  senate,  and 
not  to  the  legislature  ?  I  see  no  necessity  for  this,  and  many 
objections  to  it." :[: 

On  the  fifth.  Mason,  supported  by  Gerry,  attempted  to 
reduce  the  number  of  candidates  to  be  voted  for  from  ^ye  to 
three  ;  *  but  the  small  states,  who  saw  their  best  chance  of  fur- 
nishing a  president  in  the  larger  number,  were  humored  by  the 
convention,  and  to  the  last  the  nimiber  of  ^Ye  was  not  changed. 

One  great  objection  of  Mason  would  be  removed  by  depriv- 
ing the  senate  of  the  eventual  election.  ||  Wilson  proposed 
the  capital  amendment,  to  transfer  the  eventual  election  from 
the  senate  to  the  "  legislature."  '^  This  change  Dickinson  ap- 
proved.    But  the  convention  was  not  yet  ripe  for  the  motion, 

*  Gilpin,  1491 ;  Elliot,  509.  *  Gilpin,  1502 ;  Elliot,  514. 

\  Gilpin,  1491,  1492 ;  Elliot,  509.         I  Gilpin,  1498,  1499  ;  Elliot,  513. 

X  Gilpin,  1492  ;  Elliot,  510.  ^  Gilpin,  1500;  Elliot,  513. 


1787.  THE  PEESIDEN-T.  337 

all  the  smaller  states  voting  against  it,  except  ISTew  Hampsliire, 
which  was  divided. 

"  The  mode  of  appointment  as  now  regulated,"  said  Mason 
at  the  close  of  the  day,  "  is  utterly  inadmissible.  I  should  pre- 
fer the  government  of  Prussia  to  one  which  will  put  all  power 
into  the  hands  of  seven  or  eight  men  " — a  majority  of  a  quorum 
of  the  senate — "and  fix  an  aristocracy  worse  than  absolute 
monarchy."  * 

On  the  sixth,  Gerry,  supported  by  King  and  Williamson, 
proposed  that  the  eventual  election  should  be  made  by  the 
legislature.  Sherman,  sedulously  supporting  the  chances  of 
the  small  states,  remarked,  that  if  the  legislature,  instead  of 
the  senate,  were  to  have  the  eventual  appointment  of  the  presi- 
dent, it  ought  to  vote  by  states. f 

Wilson  himself,  on  the  same  morning,  spoke  with  singular 
energy,  disapproving  alike  the  eventual  choice  of  the  presi- 
dent by  the  equal  vote  of  the  states  and  the  tendency  to  clothe 
the  senate  with  special  powers :  "  I  have  weighed  carefully  the 
report  of  the  committee  for  remodelling  the  constitution  of 
the  executive ;  and,  on  combining  it  with  other  parts  of  the 
plan,  I  am  obliged  to  consider  the  whole  as  having  a  ten- 
dency to  aristocracy,  as  throwing  a  dangerous  power  into  the 
hands  of  the  senate.  They  will  have,  in  fact,  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  president,  and,  through  his  dependence  on  them, 
the  virtual  appointment  to  ofiices — among  others,  the  officers 
of  the  judiciary  department ;  they  are  to  make  treaties  ;  and 
they  are  to  try  all  impeachments.  The  legislative,  executive, 
and  judiciary  powers  are  all  blended  in  one  branch  of  the 
government.  The  power  of  making  treaties  involves  the  case 
of  subsidies ;  and  here,  as  an  additional  evil,  foreign  influence 
is  to  be  dreaded.  According  to  the  plan  as  it  now  stands, 
the  president  will  not  be  the  man  of  the  people,  as  he  ought 
to  be,  but  the  minion  of  the  senate.  He  cannot  even  appoint 
a  tide-waiter  without  it.  I  have  always  thought  the  senate 
too  numerous  a  body  for  making  appointments  to  office.  With 
all  their  powers,  and  the  president  in  their  interest,  they  will 
depress  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature,  and  aggrandize 
themselves  in  proportion.     The  new  mode  of  appointing  the 

*  Gilpin,  1503  ;  Elliot,  515.  f  Gilpin,  1504  ;  Elliot,  516. 

VOL.  VI. — 22 


338  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  ni. ;  en.  ix 


president  bj  electors  is  a  valuable  improvement;  but  I  can 
never  agree  to  purchase  it  at  the  price  of  the  ensuing  parts  of 
the  report."  * 

"  The  mutual  connection  of  the  president  and  senate,"  said 
Hamilton,  "  will  perpetuate  the  one  and  aggrandize  both.  I 
see  no  better  remedy  than  to  let  the  highest  number  of  ballots, 
whether  a  majority  or  not,  appoint  the  president."  f  The 
same  motion  had  the  day  before  been  offered  by  Mason,  J  but 
the  convention,  especially  the  smaller  states,  inflexibly  required 
a  majority. 

WilHamson,  to  avoid  favoring  aristocracy  in  the  senate,  and 
yet  to  secure  the  assent  of  the  small  states,  wished  to  transfer 
the  eventual  choice  to  the  legislature,  voting  by  states.  To 
the  legislature  Sherman  preferred  the  house  of  representatives, 
the  members  from  each  state  having  one  vote ;  *  and  the  con- 
vention so  decided  by  ten  states  out  of  eleven. 

]^or  would  the  convention  intrust  the  counting  of  the 
votes  to  the  senate  alone.  By  amendments  adopted  on  the 
sixth,!  it  was  thus  finally  established:  "The  president  of  the 
senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  senate  and  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be 
counted."  In  every  stage  of  the  proceeding  the  convention 
suffered  no  chance  for  the  failure  of  an  election,  and  had  spe- 
cially guarded  against  the  failure  of  an  election  by  the  nega- 
tive of  one  house  upon  the  other,  leaving  the  rules  for  the 
conduct  of  the  electoral  colleges,  or  of  the  two  houses  when  in 
presence  of  each  other,  to  be  suppHed  by  the  familiar  expe- 
rience of  the  states.  On  one  point,  and  on  one  point  only, 
the  several  states  of  that  day  differed  in  their  manner  of  count- 
ing votes.  In  Yirginia  the  ballot  of  the  two  houses  was  taken 
in  each  house  respectively,  and  the  boxes  examined  jointly  by 
a  committee  of  each  house.  In  Massachusetts  the  whole  work 
was  done  by  the  senators  and  representatives  assembled  in  one 
room.  On  this  point,  therefore,  and  on  this  point  only,  there 
was  need  of  a  special  regulation ;  and,  accordingly,  the  consti- 
tution enjoined  the  counting  of  the  votes  in  the  presence  of 

*  Gilpin,  1504,  1505;  Elliot,  5l6.  **  Gilpin,  1510;  Elliot,  5l9. 

f  Gilpin,  1507  ;  Elliot,  517.  I  Gilpin,  1509,  I5l3 ;  Elliot,  6l8,  520. 

X  Gilpin,  1498,  1499  ;  Elliot,  5l3. 


1787.  THE  PRESIDENT.  339 

the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  after  the  manner  of 
Massachusetts.* 

The  language  of  this  clause  of  the  constitution  is  a  concise, 
clear,  and  imperative  command;  "The  votes  shall  then  be 
counted."  The  convention  is  left  with  no  one  but  itself  to  in- 
terpret its  duties  and  prescribe  its  rules  of  action.  ISTo  power 
whatever  over  the  counting  of  the  votes  is  devolved  on  the 
house  of  representatives  or  on  the  senate ;  whatever  is  granted 
is  granted  to  the  two  houses  "  in  the  presence  of  "  each  other ; 
representing  the  states  and  the  people  according  to  the  com- 
promise adopted  for  the  electoral  colleges. 

And  now  the  whole  line  of  march  to  the  mode  of  the  elec- 
tion of  the  president  can  be  surveyed.  The  convention  at  first 
reluctantly  conferred  that  office  on  the  national  legislature; 
and  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  failure  by  a  negative  of  one 
house  on  the  other,  to  the  legislature  voting  in  joint  ballot. 
To  escape  from  danger  of  cabal  and  corruption,  it  next  trans- 
ferred full  and  final  power  of  choice  to  an  electoral  college 

*  Constitution  of  Virginia,  of  1776.  B.  P.  Poore's  edition,  1910,  1911.  A 
governor,  or  chief  magistrate,  shall  be  chosen  annually  by  joint  ballot  of  both 
houses  (to  be  taken  in  each  house  respectively)  deposited  in  the  conference  room  ; 
the  boxes  examined  jointly  by  a  committee  of  each  house,  and  the  numbers  sever- 
ally reported  to  them  that  the  appointments  may  be  entered  (which  shall  be  the 
mode  of  taking  the  joint  ballot  of  both  houses,  in  all  cases).  .  .  . 

A  privy  council,  or  council  of  state,  consisting  of  eight  m-embers,  shall  be 
chosen  by  joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  assembly. 

The  delegates  for  Virginia  to  the  continental  congress  shall  be  chosen  annu- 
ally, or  superseded  in  the  mean  time,  by  joint  ballot  of  both  houses  of  assembly. 

The  two  houses  of  assembly  shall,  by  joint  ballot,  appoint  judges  of  the  su- 
preme court  of  appeals,  and  general  court,  judges  in  chancery,  judges  of  admiral- 
ty, secretary,  and  the  attorney-general,  to  be  commissioned  by  the  governor,  and 
continue  in  office  during  good  beha-vior. 

Constitution  of  Massachusetts,  of  1780.  B,  P.  Poore's  edition,  967,  969.  Ch. 
IT.,  Art.  IT.  Nine  councillors  shall  be  annually  chosen  from  among  the  persons 
returned  for  councillors  and  senators,  on  the  last  Wednesday  in  May,  by  the  joint 
ballot  of  the  senators  and  representatives  assembled  in  one  room. 

Ch.  II.,  Art.  I.  The  secretary,  treasurer,  and  receiver-general,  and  the  commis- 
Fary-general,  notaries  public,  and  naval  officers,  shall  be  chosen  annually,  by  joint 
ballot  of  the  senators  and  representatives,  in  one  room. 

Ch,  IV.  The  delegates  of  this  commonwealth  to  the  congress  of  the  United 
States  shall,  some  time  in  the  month  of  June,  annually,  be  elected  by  the  joint 
ballot  of  the  senate  and  house  of  representatives  assembled  together  in  one 
room. 


340  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION-.  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  ix. 

that  should  be  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  joint  convention  of 
the  two  honses  in  the  representation  of  the  states  as  units,  as 
well  as  the  population  of  the  states,  and  should  meet  at  the  seat 
of  government.  Then,  fearing  that  so  large  a  number  of  men 
would  not  travel  to  the  seat  of  government  for  that  single  pur- 
pose, or  might  be  hindered  on  the  way,  they  most  reluctantly 
went  back  to  the  choice  of  the  president  by  the  two  houses  in 
joint  convention.  At  this  moment  the  thought  arose  that  the 
electors  might  cast  their  votes  in  their  own  several  states,  and 
transmit  the  certificates  of  their  ballots  to  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. Accordingly,  the  work  of  electing  a  president  was  di- 
vided; the  convention  removed  the  act  of  voting  from  the 
joint  session  of  the  two  houses  to  electoral  colleges  in  the  sev- 
eral states,  the  act  of  voting  to  be  followed  by  the  transmission 
of  authenticated  certificates  of  the  votes  to  a  branch  of  the  gen- 
eral legislature  at  the  seat  of  government ;  and  then  it  restored 
to  the  two  houses  in  presence  of  each  other  the  same  office  of 
counting  the  collected  certificates  which  they  would  have  per- 
formed had  the  choice  remained  with  the  two  houses  of  the 
legislature.  Should  no  one  have  a  majority,  the  eventual  elec- 
tion of  the  president,  to  satisfy  the  rising  jealousy  of  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  senate,  was  assigned  to  the  house  of  represen- 
tatives, and,  to  please  the  small  states,  to  the  representatives 
voting  by  states.  And  the  house  of  representatives  was  in  the 
clearest  language  ordered  "  immediately  "  to  choose  by  ballot 
one  of  two,  when  their  vote  was  equal,  one  of  five  where  no 
person  had  a  majority.  In  this  way  a  collision  between  the 
two  houses,  by  a  negative  vote  of  one  on  the  other,  was  com- 
pletely guarded  against  in  every  stage  of  the  procedure."^ 

*  When,  thirteen  years  later,  this  clause  came  up  for  consideration,  Madison 
and  Baldwin,  two  surviving  members  of  the  grand  committee  to  whom  the  federal 
convention  had  referred  everything  relating  to  the  choice  of  the  president,  left  on 
record  their  interpretation  of  the  clause.  For  the  opinion  of  Madison,  see  Madison 
to  Jefferson,  4  April  1800,  in  writings  of  Madison,  ii.,  158,  where  the  name  "Ni- 
cholson's "  is  erroneously  printed  for  "  Nicholas's,"  as  appears  from  a  comparison 
which  has  been  made  of  the  printed  letter  with  the  original.  The  opinion  of  Bald- 
win is  found  in  "  Counting  Electoral  Votes,"  page  19.  Baldwin  gives  his  vote 
with  Langdon  and  Pinckney,  both  of  whom  had  been  members  of  the  federal  con- 
vention, for  the  right  of  the  joint  convention  to  count  the  votes.  By  the  kindness 
of  Miss  Sarah  Nicholas  Randolph,  granddaughter  of  Governor  Wilson  Gary  Nicho- 
las of  Virginia,  and  great-granddaughter  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  I  have  been  al- 


1787.  THE  PKESIDENT.  341 

The  almost  certain  election  of  the  vice-president  was  secured 
by  declaring  the  candidate  haying  the  most  votes  to  be  duly 
elected.  In  the  extremely  improbable  case,  that  two  persons 
should  lead  all  the  candidates  with  an  exactly  equal  number  of 
votes,  the  election  was  to  devolve  on  the  senate. 

"  Such  an  officer  as  vice-president,"  said  "Williamson  on  the 
seventh,  "  is  not  wanted."  *  To  make  an  excuse  for  his  exist- 
ence, the  convention  decreed  that  he  should  be  president  of  the 
senate.  "  That,"  said  Mason, ''  is  an  encroachment  on  the  sen- 
ate's rights ;  and,  moreover,  it  mixes  too  much  the  legislative 
and  the  executive."  It  was  seen  that  the  vice-president  brings 
to  the  chair  of  the  senate  the  dignity  of  one  of  the  two  high- 
est officers  in  the  land  chosen  by  the  whole  country ;  and  yet 
that  he  can  have  no  real  influence  in  a  body  upon  which  he  is 
imposed  by  an  extraneous  vote. 

That  the  vice-president  should,  in  the  event  of  a  vacancy, 
act  as  president,  prevents  the  need  of  a  new  election  before  the 
end  of  the  regular  term ;  but  an  immediate  appeal  to  the  peo- 
ple might  give  a  later  and  truer  expression  of  its  wishes. 

"While  the  method  to  be  adopted  for  the  election  of  the 
president  still  engaged  the  untiring  efforts  of  the  convention,  it 
proceeded  in  the  ascertainment  of  his  powers.     His  style  was 

lowed  to  take  from  the  holograph  of  Jefferson  a  copy  of  his  paper  on  this  subject, 
written  by  him  for  the  use  of  W.  C.  Nicholas  when  senator  from  Virginia  in  con- 
gress in  1800. 

The  question  as  voted  upon  in  congress  in  1800  was  decided  not  by  any  bear- 
ing on  the  selection  of  Jefferson  or  Burr  for  the  presidency,  for  the  party  opposed 
to  Jefferson  had  a  majority  in  each  branch,  but  on  the  unwillingness  of  the  sen- 
ate to  give  to  the  house  of  representatives  superior  weight  in  the  decision  of  elec- 
tions. Jefferson,  iv.,  322.  The  vice-president  was  never  charged  with  the  power 
to  count  the  votes.  The  person  who  counted  the  first  votes  for  president  and  vice- 
president  was  no  vice-president,  but  a  senator  elected  by  the  senate  as  its  presid- 
ing officer  for  that  act  under  a  special  authority  conferred  by  the  constitution  for 
that  one  occasion  when  the  constitution  was  to  be  set  in  motion. 

On  any  pretence  of  a  right  in  the  vice-president  to  count  the  votes,  compare 
the  words  spoken  in  the  senate  by  Senator  Conkling,  23  and  24  January  1877,  and 
Senator  Edmunds,  20  November  1 877.  The  laws  of  historical  criticism  require 
the  historian  to  study  the  words  of  the  state  constitutions  from  which  the  article 
in  the  United  States  constitution  is  taken,  and  the  practice  of  the  state  legislatures 
of  that  day  under  the  original  articles  in  the  state  constitutions ;  and  these  must 
decide  on  the  right  interpretation  of  the  language  employed  in  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States.  *  Gilpin,  1517 ;  Elliot,  522. 


342  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  en.  ix. 

declared  to  be  "  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America ; " 
the  clause  that  his  title  should  be  "  His  Excellency  "  was  still 
suffered  to  linger  in  the  draft.  He  was  to  be  the  minister  to 
carry  out  the  will  of  the  legislature,  and  see  tliat  the  laws  are 
executed.  It  was  made  his  duty  to  give  information  of  the 
state  of  the  union ;  and  to  recommend  necessary  and  expedient 
measures.  He  could  not  prorogue  the  two  branches  of  the 
legislature  nor  either  of  them  ;  nor  appeal  to  the  people  by 
dissolving  them.  They  alone  had  the  power  to  adjourn ;  but 
on  extraordinary  occasions  to  him  belonged  the  prerogative  to 
convene  them,  or  to  convene  the  senate  alone. 

Wilson  was  most  apprehensive  that  the  legislature,  by  swal- 
lovdng  up  all  the  other  powers,  would  lead  to  a  dissolution  of 
the  government,  no  adequate  self -defensive  power  having  been 
granted  either  to  the  executive  or  judicial  department.*  To 
strengthen  the  president  and  raise  a  strong  barrier  against  rash 
legislation,  Gouverneur  Morris  would  have  granted  the  presi- 
dent a  qualified  veto  on  the  repeal  of  a  law,  an  absolute  veto  on 
every  act  of  legislation.f 

In  June  the  convention  had  agreed  that  the  veto  of  the 
president  on  an  act  of  congress  could  be  overruled  by  two  thirds 
of  each  house ;  on  the  fifteenth  of  August,  at  the  instance  of 
"Williamson,  it  was  agreed  that  the  veto  of  the  president  could 
be  overruled  only  by  three  fourths  of  each  branch  of  congress, 
and  on  the  next  day  the  same  rule  was  applied  to  every  order, 
resolution,  or  vote  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the  two  houses 
might  be  necessary,  except  it  were  a  question  of  adjournment.:|: 

Sherman,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  August,  had  proposed  that 
pardons  should  require  the  consent  of  the  senate ;  but  no  state 
except  his  own  was  willing  thus  to  restrict  the  clemency  of  the 
president.* 

All  agreed  that  he  should  be  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  and  the  navy ;  but,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  August,  at 
Sherman's  instance,  he  was  to  command  the  militia  only  when 
it  should  be  called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States.  || 

The  men  who  made  the  constitution  had  taken  to  heart  the 

*  Gilpin,  1836,  183Y;  Elliot,  430.  *  Gilpin,  1433 ;  Elliot,  480. 

f  Gilpin,  1334  ;  Elliot,  429.  fl  Gilpin,  1434 ;  Elliot,  480. 

i  Gilpin,  1337,  1338;  Elliot,  431. 


irsr.  THE  PRESIDENT.  343 

lesson  tliat  the  three  great  powers — legislative,  judicial,  and  ex- 
ecutive— should  be  lodged  in  different  hands.  "Executing 
the  laws  and  appointing  officers  not  appertaining  to  and  ap- 
pointed by  the  legislature,"  Wilson  had  said,  so  early  as  the 
first  of  June,  "  are  strictly  executive  powers."  *  Yet  it  seemed 
needful  to  keep  watch  over  the  president,  and  Gerry  f  and 
Sherman  had  favored  the  appointment  of  an  executive  council.:]: 
Charles  Pinckney  wished  the  president  to  consult  the  heads 
of  the  principal  departments.*  "  A  superfluous  proposition," 
said  Hamilton,  "  for  the  president  will  at  any  rate  have  that 
right."  Mercer,  on  the  fourteenth  of  August,  suggested  "  a 
council  composed  of  members  of  both  houses  of  the  legislature 
to  stand  between  the  aristocracy  and  the  executive."  ||  But  the 
thought  did  not  take  root. 

The  convention  was  anxious  to  reconcile  a  discreet  watch- 
fulness over  the  executive  with  his  independence.  In  August 
Ellsworth  had  recommended  a  council  to  be  composed  of  the 
president  of  the  senate,  the  chief  justice,  and  the  ministers,  or 
secretaries  as  Gouverneur  Morris  named  them,  of  the  foreign, 
the  interior,  war,  treasury,  and  navy  departments,  "  to  advise,  but 
not  conclude  the  president."  ^  Gerry  pronounced  the  nomi- 
nation of  the  chief  justice  particularly  exceptionable.  ()  Dick- 
inson urged  that  the  great  appointments  of  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments should  be  made  by  the  legislature,  in  which  case  they 
might  properly  be  consulted  by  the  executive.  The  elaborate 
plan  of  a  council  of  state  which  Gouverneur  Morris  proposed 
on  the  twentieth  differed  from  that  of  Ellsworth  mainly  in  its 
exclusion  of  the  president  of  the  senate. 

The  persistent  convention  next  consulted  its  committee  of 
detail,  which  on  the  twenty-second  reported  :  that  "  the  privy 
council  of  the  president  of  the  United  States  shall  consist  of 
the  president  of  the  senate,  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, the  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  and  the  prin- 
cipal officer  in  each  of  five  departments  as  they  shall  from  time 
to  time  be  established ;  their  duty  shall  be  to  advise  him  in 

*  Gilpin,  '763;  Elliot,  141.  f  Gilpin,  1318;  Elliot,  421. 

f  Ibid.  ^  Gilpin,  1358,  1359  ;  Elliot,  442. 

i  Gilpin,  782 ;  Elliot,  150.  0  Gilpin,  1359  ;  Elliot,  442. 
«  Gilpin,  811  ;  Elliot,  165. 


344  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  en.  ix. 

matters  wliicli  he  shall  lay  before  them ;  but  their  advice  shall 
not  conclude  him,  nor  affect  his  responsibility."  *  The  report 
did  not  satisfy  the  convention,  which,  still  hopeful  and  perse- 
vering, referred  the  subject  to  the  grand  committee  of  the 
eleven  states. 

The  report  of  the  committee,  made  on  the  fourth  of  Sep- 
tember, did  no  more  than  permit  the  executive  to  "  require 
the  opinion  in  writing  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the 
executive  departments,  upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  duties 
of  his  office." f  "In  rejecting  a  council  to  the  president," 
such  were  the  final  words  of  Mason,  "we  are  about  to  try  an 
experiment  on  which  the  most  despotic  government  has  never 
ventured ;  the  Grand  Seignior  himself  has  his  Divan ; "  and 
he  proposed  an  executive  council  to  be  appointed  by  the  legis- 
lature or  by  the  senate,  and  to  consist  of  two  members  from 
the  eastern,  two  from  the  middle,  and  two  from  the  southern 
states ;  with  a  rotation  and  duration  of  office  similar  to  those 
of  the  senate.  J  He  was  seconded  by  Franklin,  who  "  thought 
a  council  would  be  a  check  on  a  bad  president,  a  relief  to  a 
good  one."  *  Wilson  "  approved  of  a  council,  in  preference 
to  making  the  senate  a  party  to  appointments."  So  did  Dick- 
inson and  Madison  ;  but  the  motion  gained  only  three  states ;  || 
and  then  by  a  unanimous  vote  the  president  was  authorized  to 
take  written  opinions  of  the  heads  of  departments,"^  who  thus 
became  his  constitutional  advisers. 

The  failure  to  establish  an  efficient  council  led  the  conven- 
tion most  reluctantly  to  vest  the  senate  with  some  control  over 
acts  of  the  executive.  On  the  seventh  it  was  agreed  "  that 
the  president  shall  have  the  power  to  make  treaties  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate."  ()  "  And  of  the  house 
of  representatives,"  "Wilson  would  have  added ;  saying :  "  As 
treaties  are  to  have  the  operation  of  laws,  they  ought  to  have 
the  sanction  of  laws."  But  Sherman  represented  that  the  ne- 
cessity of  secrecy  forbade  a  reference  to  both  houses,  and  every 
state  assented  except  Pennsylvania.  J 

*  Gilpin,  1398,  1399  ;  Elliot,  4G2.  |I  Gilpin,  1524 ;  Elliot,  526. 
f  Gilpin,  14S8  ;  Elliot,  507.                           ^  Ibid. 

X  Gilpin,  1523 ;  Elliot,  525.  ^  Gilpin,  1519,  Elliot,  523. 

*  Ibid.  X  Gilpin,  1519  ;  Elliot,  523. 


1787.  THE  PRESIDENT.  345 

It  has  already  been  related  that  to  diminish  the  temptation 
to  war,  the  power  to  declare  it  was  confided  to  the  legislature. 
In  treaties  of  peace,  Madison,  fearing  in  a  president  a  passion 
for  continuing  war,  proposed  to  dispense  with  his  concurrence. 
"  The  means  of  carrying  on  the  war,"  said  Gorham,  "  will  not 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  president,  but  of  the  legislature."  "  No 
peace,"  insisted  Gouverneur  Morris,  "  ought  to  be  made  with- 
out the  concurrence  of  the  president,  who  is  the  general  guar- 
dian of  the  nation."  And  Maryland,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia  alone  voted  for  the  amendment.* 

On  the  seventh,  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate  was, 
by  a  unanimous  vote,  required  for  the  appointment  of  ambas- 
sadors, other  public  ministers,  consuls,  and  judges  of  the  sti* 
preme  court ;  f  and  for  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States 
by  nine  states  against  Pennsylvania  and  South  Carolina.  { 
But  eight  days  later  the  legislature  was  authorized  to  vest  the 
appointment  of  inferior  officers  in  the  president  alone,  in  the 
courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments.* 

All  agreed  in  giving  the  president  power  to  fill  up,  tem- 
porarily, vacancies  that  might  happen  during  the  recess  of  the 
senate.  || 

Had  the  consent  of  the  senate  been  made  necessary  to  dis- 
place as  well  as  to  appoint,  the  executive  would  have  suffered 
degradation ;  and  the  relative  importance  of  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives a  grave  diminution.  To  change  the  tenure  of 
office  from  the  good  opinion  of  the  president,  who  is  the  em- 
ployer and  needs  efficient  agents  in  executing  the  laws,  to  the 
favor  of  the  senate,  which  has  no  executive  powers,  would 
create  a  new  fealty  alien  to  the  duties  of  an  officer  of  the 
United  States. 

"  The  three  distinct  powers,  legislative,  judicial,  and  execu- 
tive," said  Ellsworth,  as  senator,  in  1789,  explaining  the  con- 
stitution which  he  had  done  so  much  to  frame,  "  should  be 
placed  in  different  hands.  He  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  he 
faithfully  executed^  are  sweeping  words.  The  officers  should 
be  attentive  to  the  president,  to  whom  the  senate  is  not  a  coun- 

*  Gilpin,  1521,  1522  ;  Elliot,  524,  525.        =»  Gilpin,  1588,  1589 ;  Elliot,  550. 
t  Glipin,  1520 ;  Elliot,  528,  524.  U  Gilpin,  1520;  Elliot,  524. 

X  Gilpin,  1520;  Elliot,  524. 


346  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  m. ;  ch.  ix. 

cil.  To  turn  a  man  out  of  office  is  an  exercise  neither  of 
legislative  nor  of  judicial  power.  The  advice  of  the  senate 
does  not  make  the  appointment ;  the  president  appoints :  there 
are  certain  restrictions  in  certain  cases,  but  the  restriction  is 
as  to  the  appointment  and  not  as  to  the  removal."  ^ 

One  question  on  the  qualifications  of  the  president  was 
among  the  last  to  be  decided.  On  the  twenty-second  of  August 
the  committee  of  detail,  fixing  the  requisite  age  of  the  presi- 
dent at  thirty-five,  on  their  own  motion  and  for  the  first  time 
required  that  the  president  should  be  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  should  have  been  an  inhabitant  of  them  for  twenty- 
one  years. t  The  idea  then  arose  that  no  number  of  years 
could  properly  prepare  a  foreigner  for  the  office  of  presi- 
dent ;  bat  as  men  of  other  lands  had  spilled  their  blood  in  the 
cause  of  the  United  States,  and  had  assisted  at  every  stage  of 
the  formation  of  their  institutions,  the  committee  of  states  who 
were  charged  with  all  unfinished  business  proposed,  on  the 
fourth  of  September,  that  "  no  person  except  a  natural-born 
citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  at  the  time  of  the 
adoption  of  this  constitution,  should  be  eligible  to  the  office  of 
president,"  and  for  the  foreign-born  proposed  a  reduction  of 
the  requisite  years  of  residence  to  fourteen.  On  the  seventh 
of  September  the  modification,  with  the  restriction  as  to  the 
age  of  the  president,  was  unanimously  adopted. 

"No  majorities  of  the  legislature  could  force  a  president  to 
retire  before  the  end  of  his  term ;  but  he  might  be  impeached 
by  the  house  of  representatives  for  treason,  bribery,  or  other 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors.  The  tribunal  for  his  arraign- 
ment was  at  first  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States ;  but 
they  would  be  few  in  number ;  the  president,  after  condemna- 
tion, might  be  further  amenable  to  them ;  and  besides,  they 
would  be  of  his  appointment.  Hamilton  had  suggested  a 
forum  composed  of  the  chief  justice  of  each  state.  :j:  Contrary 
to  the  opinion  of  Madison,  the  English  precedent  was  followed, 
and  the  senate  was  made  the  court  to  try  all  officers  liable  to 
impeachment ;  and,  on  conviction  by  a  two  thirds  vote,  to  re- 
move them.    As  the  vice-president,  on  the  president's  removal, 

*  MS.  report  of  Ellsworth's  speech  by  William  Patcrson. 

f  Gilpin,  1398  ;  Elliot,  4G2.  X  Gilpin,  892,  1158  ;  Elliot,  205,  342. 


1787.  THE  PRESIDENT.  347 

would  succeed  to  Ms  place,  the  chief  justice  was  directed  to 
preside  on  the  trial  of  the  president. 

At  so  late  a  day  as  the  fourteenth  of  September,  Rutledge 
and  Gouverneur  Morris  moved  that  persons  impeached  be  sus- 
pended from  their  offices  until  they  be  tried  and  acquitted ;  but 
Madison  defeated  the  proposition  by  pointing  out  that  this  in- 
termediate suspension  would  put  it  in  the  power  of  one  branch 
only  to  vote  a  temporary  removal  of  the  existing  magistrate.* 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  could  extend  only  to 
removal  from  office  and  disqualification;  but  the  party  re- 
mained liable  to  indictment,  trial,  and  punishment,  according 
to  law.  The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeach- 
ment, could  be  only  by  jury. 

*  Gilpin,  1572;  Elliot,  512. 


348  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  B.ni.;oH.x. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

the  federal  judiciaey. 

August  aub  September  1787. 

The  resolution  on  the  federal  judiciary  whicli  went  from 
the  convention  to  the  committee  of  detail  purposely  described 
the  extent  of  its  jurisdiction  in  vague  and  general  terms.  The 
very  able  lawyers  on  that  committee,  Hutledge,  "Wilson,  Ran- 
dolph, and  Ellsworth,  proceeding  with  equal  boldness  and  pre- 
cision, shrinking  from  aggressions  on  the  rights  of  the  states 
and  yet  entertaining  efficient  and  comprehensive  designs, 
brought  in  a  report,  which  caused  little  diversity  of  opinion, 
and  was  held  to  need  no  essential  amendment.  But  on  one 
point  they  kept  silence.  A  deeply-seated  dread  of  danger  from 
hasty  legislation  pervaded  the  mind  of  the  convention  ;  and 
Mason,  Madison,  and  others  persistently  desired  to  vest  in  the 
supreme  court  a  revisionary  power  over  the  acts  of  congress, 
with  an  independent  negative,  or  a  negative  in  conjunction 
with  the  executive.  Though  the  measure  had  been  repeatedly 
brought  forward  and  as  often  put  aside,  Madison,  on  the  fif- 
teenth of  August,  proposed  once  more  that  "  Every  bill  which 
shall  have  passed  the  two  houses  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law, 
be  severally  presented  to  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court,  for  the  revision  of 
each ; "  *  the  veto  of  the  judges  not  to  be  overthrown  by  less 
than  two  thirds,  nor,  if  the  president  joined  them,  by  less  than 
three  fourths  of  each  house.     He  was  seconded  by  Wilson. 

Charles  Pinckney  opposed  the  interference  of  the  judges  in 
legislation,  because  it  would  involve  them  in  the  conflict  of 

*  Gilpin,  1332 ;  Elliot,  428. 


1787.  THE  FEDERAL  JUDICIARY.  349 

parties  and  tinge  tlieir  opinions  before  tlieir  action  in  court. 
"  The  judiciary,"  said  John  Francis  Mercer  of  Maryland, 
"  ought  to  be  separate  from  the  legislative  and  independent  of 
it.  I  disapprove  the  doctrine  that  the  judges  should,  as  ex- 
positors of  the  constitution,  have  authority  to  declare  a  law 
void.  Laws  ought  to  be  well  and  cautiously  made,  and  then 
to  be  uncontrollable."  *  To  the  regret  of  Gouvemeur  Morris, 
the  motion  of  Madison  was  supported  only  by  Maryland,  Dela- 
ware, and  Yirginia.  Dickinson  was  strongly  impressed  with 
the  objection  to  the  power  of  the  judges  to  set  aside  the  law. 
He  thought  no  such  power  ought  to  exist,  but  was  at  a  loss  for 
a  substitute.  "  The  justiciary  of  Aragon,"  he  observed,  "  be- 
came by  degrees  the  law-giver."  f 

On  the  morning  of  the  twentieth  Charles  Pinckney  sub- 
mitted numerous  propositions ;  among  them  was  one  that 
"  Each  branch  of  the  legislature,  as  well  as  the  supreme  execu- 
tive, shall  have  authority  to  require  the  opinions  of  the  su- 
preme judicial  court  upon  important  questions  of  law,  and 
upon  solemn  occasions."  J  This  article,  as  well  as  the  rest,  was 
referred  to  the  committee  of  detail,  without  debate  or  consid- 
eration by  the  house,  and  was  never  again  heard  of. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  the  article  on  the  judiciary  reported 
by  the  committee  of  detail  was  taken  up ;  and  it  was  agreed 
that  "  the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested 
in  one  supreme  court,  and  such  inferior  courts  as  shall,  when 
necessary,  from  time  to  time,  be  constituted  by  the  legislature 
of  the  United  States."  *  "  The  judges  of  the  supreme  court, 
and  of  the  inferior  courts,  shall  hold  their  offices  during  good 
behavior.  They  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  their  services 
a  compensation  which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their 
continuance  in  office."  ||  Judges  of  inferior  courts  were  clothed 
*  with  the  same  independence  of  the  two  other  branches  of  the 
government  as  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court. 

Dickinson  thought  that  the  tenure  of  office  was  made  too 
absolute;  and,  following  the  example  of  Great  Britain  and 
Massachusetts,  he  desired  that  the  judges  should  be  removable 

*  Gilpin,  1333  ;  Elliot,  429.  #  Gilpin,  1435  ;  Elliot,  481. 

f  Gilpin,  1334;  Elliot,  429.  |!  Gilpin,  1437;  Elliot,  482. 

i  Gilpin,  1365;  Elliot,  445;  i.,  249. 


S50  THE  FEDERAL   CONVENTION.  b.iii.;oh.x. 

by  the  executive  on  application  of  the  senate  and  the  house  of 
representatives.'^  "  If  the  supreme  court,"  said  Rutledge,  "  is  to 
judge  between  the  United  States  and  particular  states,  this  alone 
is  an  insuperable  objection  to  the  motion."  The  clause  gained 
no  vote  but  that  of  Connecticut,  Massachusetts  being  absent. 
In  England  the  highest  judicial  officer  is  liable  to  change  with 
every  change  of  administration,  and  every  one  may  be  removed 
on  the  request  of  a  majority  in  each  house  of  parliament ; 
every  judge  of  the  United  States,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  is  an  officer  for  life,  unless  on  impeachment  he  should 
be  convicted  by  the  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  senate. 

The  judicial  power  was  by  a  motion  of  Johnson  extended 
to  cases  in  law  and  equity.  He  further  proposed  to  extend 
it  "  to  all  cases  arising  under  the  constitution  ; "  and  the  mo- 
tion was  agreed  to  without  dissent,  because  in  the  opinion  of 
the  convention  the  jurisdiction  given  was  constructively  limited 
to  cases  of  a  judiciary  nature. f 

In  this  way  Madison's  scheme  of  restraining  unconstitu- 
tional legislation  of  the  states  by  reserving  to  the  legislature  of 
the  union  a  veto  on  every  act  of  state  legislation  was  finally 
abandoned ;  and  the  power  of  revising  and  reversing  a  claase 
of  a  state  law  that  conflicted  with  the  federal  constitution  was 
confided  exclusively  to  the  federal  judiciary,  but  only  when  a 
case  should  be  properly  brought  before  the  court.  The  deci- 
sion of  the  court  in  all  cases  within  its  jurisdiction  is  final  be- 
tween the  parties  to  a  suit,  and  must  be  carried  into  effect  by 
the  proper  officers ;  but,  as  an  interpretation  of  the  constitu- 
tion, it  does  not  bind  the  president  or  the  legislature  of  the 
United  States.  Under  the  same  qualification  the  constitution 
gives  to  the  judges  the  power  to  compare  any  act  of  congress 
with  the  constitution.  But  the  supreme  bench  can  set  aside  in 
an  act  of  congress  or  of  a  state  only  that  which  is  at  variance 
with  the  constitution  ;  if  it  be  merely  one  clause,  or  even  but 
one  word,  they  can  overrule  that  word  or  that  clause,  and  no 
more.  The  whole  law  can  never  be  set  aside  unless  every  part 
of  it  is  tainted  with  unconstitutionality.  :j: 

Kutledge  next  observed  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court 

*  Gilpin,  1436 ;  Elliot,  431.  f  Gilpin,  1438,  1439  ;  Elliot,  483. 

:{:  Curtis  in  Howard,  xix.,  623. 


1787.  THE  FEDERAL  JUDICIARY.  351 

should  extend  to  treaties  made,  or  to  be  made,  Tinder  the 
authority  of  the  United  States ;  and  this  proposal  was  readily 
adopted.* 

The  proposition  that  the  courts  should  conduct  the  trial  of 
impeachments  was  put  aside,  and  that  duty  was  afterward  as- 
signed to  the  senate.  Two  clauses  in  the  report  of  the  commit- 
tee of  detail,  which,  after  a  precedent  in  the  confederacy,  con- 
fided to  the  senate  the  settlement  of  all  controversies  between 
two  or  more  states  respecting  jurisdiction  or  territory,  and  all 
controversies  concerning  grants  of  the  same  lands  by  two  or 
more  states,  were  in  the  course  of  the  discussion  removed  from 
the  senate  and  made  over  to  the  federal  courts. 

In  constructing  the  judiciary,  extreme  care  was  taken  to 
keep  out  of  the  United  States  courts  all  questions  which  re- 
lated to  matters  that  began  and  ended  within  a  separate  com- 
monwealth. This  intention  is  stamped  alike  on  the  federal 
proposals  of  Virginia,  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  Connecticut ;  it 
was  carefully  respected  in  those  clauses  which  limit  the  action 
of  the  individual  states. 

The  original  jurisdiction  of  the  supreme  court  embraces 
only  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and 
consuls.  Cases  in  which  a  state  should  be  a  party  were  added 
for  the  single  purpose  of  authorizing  a  state  as  plaintiff  to 
seek  justice  in  a  federal  court ;  it  was  as  little  intended  to  per- 
mit individuals  to  bring  a  state  there  as  defendant  as  to  arraign 
an  ambassador.  The  appellate  power  included  cases  of  admi- 
ralty and  maritime  jurisdiction.  In  these  three  classes  the  juris- 
diction of  the  court,  original  in  two  of  them,  appellate  in  the 
third,  is  in  imperative  language  extended  "  to  all  cases."  But 
as  "  to  controversies  to  which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  party ; 
to  controversies  between  two  or  more  states  ;  between  a  state 
and  citizens  of  another  state  ;  between  citizens  of  different 
states ;  between  citizens  of  the  same  state  claiming  lands  under 
grants  of  different  states,  and  between  a  state  or  the  citizens 
thereof  and  foreign  states,  citizens  or  subjects,"  the  judicial 
power  is  limited.  The  section  implies  that  only  a  part  of  the 
controversies  in  each  of  the  enumerated  classes  may  come  un- 
der the  jurisdiction  of  the  federal  courts ;  and  it  was  left  to 

*  Gilpin,  14S9  ;  Elliot,  483. 


•  352  THE  FEDEEAL  COKVENTION".  b.iii.;ch.x. 

the  federal  legislature  to  make  the  discrimination  which  in  its 
judgment  public  policy  might  dictate.'^  Here  congress,  and 
congress  alone,  selects  the  controversies  to  which  the  appellate 
judicial  power  may  extend,  and  at  its  own  judgment  limits  the 
right  of  appeal.  The  convention  purposely  made  it  the  duty 
of  congress  to  watch  over  the  development  of  the  system,  and 
restrict  accordingly  the  appellate  jurisdiction.  Bj  reserving 
to  the  tribunals  of  the  states  jurisdiction  over  cases  that  may 
properly  belong  to  them,  it  may  rescue  the  federal  court  from 
the  danger  of  losing  its  efficiency  beneath  larger  masses  of 
business  than  it  can  dispose  of. 

The  method  of  choosing  the  federal  judiciary  was  settled 
without  strife.  The  motion  for  its  appointment  by  the  execu- 
tive, with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate,  when  first  pro- 
posed, gained  an  equal  vote ;  and  on  the  seventh  of  September 
was  agreed  to  without  a  division.f 
/S  The  supreme  court  was  to  be  the  "  bulwark  of  a  limited 
constitution  against  legislative  encroachments."  J  A  bench  of 
a  few,  selected  with  care  by  the  president  and  senate  from  the 
nation,  seemed  a  safer  tribunal  than  a  multitudinous  assembly 
elected  for  a  short  period  under  the  sway  of  passing  currents  of 
thought,  or  the  intrepid  fixedness  of  an  uncompromising  party. 
There  always  remains  danger  of  erroneous  judgments,  arising 
from  mistakes,  imperfect  investigation,  the  bias  of  previous 
connections,  the  seductions  of  ambition,  or  the  instigations  of 
surrounding  opinions  ;  and  a  court  from  which  there  is  no  ap- 
peal is  apt  to  forget  circumspection  in  its  sense  of  security. 
The  passage  of  a  judge  from  the  bar  to  the  bench  does  not  nec- 
essarily divest  him  of  prejudices ;  nor  chill  his  relations  to  the 
particular  political  party  to  which  he  may  owe  his  advance- 
ment ;  nor  blot  out  of  his  memory  the  great  interests  which  he 
may  have  professionally  piloted  through  doubtful  straits ;  nor 
quiet  the  ambition  which  he  is  not  required  to  renounce,  even 
though  his  appointment  is  for  life;  nor  cure  predilections 
which  sometimes  have  their  seat  in  his  own  inmost  nature. 

But  the  constitution  retains  the  means  of  protecting  itseK 
against  the  errors  of  partial  or  interested  judgments.     In  the 

*  Story  in  Curtis,  iii.,  669 ;  Ellsworth  in  Curtis,  i.,  243. 

f  Gilpin,  1520;  Elliot,  524.  X  Federalist,  ksYiii. 


1787.  THE  FEDEPwAL  JUDICIARY.  353 

first  place,  the  force  of  a  judicial  opinion  of  tlie  supreme  court, 
in  so  far  as  it  is  irreversible,  reaches  only  the  particular  case  in 
dispute;  and  to  this  society  submits,  in  order  to  escape  from 
anarchy  in  the  daily  routine  of  business.  To  the  decision  on 
an  underlying  question  of  constitutional  law  no  such  finality 
attaches.  To  endure,  it  must  be  right.  If  it  is  right,  it  will 
approve  itself  to  the  universal  sense  of  the  impartial.  A  judge 
who  can  justly  lay  claim  to  integrity  will  never  lay  claim  to  in- 
fallibility ;  but  with  indefatigable  research  will  add,  retract, 
and  correct  whenever  more  mature  consideration  shows  the 
need  of  it.*  The  court  is  itself  inferior  and  subordinate  to  the 
constitution ;  it  has  only  a  delegated  authority,  and  every  opin- 
ion contrary  to  the  tenor  of  its  commission  is  void,  except  as 
settling  the  case  on  trial.  The  prior  act  of  the  superior  must 
be  preferred  to  the  subsequent  act  of  an  inferior ;  otherwise  it 
might  transform  the  limited  into  an  unlimited  constitution. 
When  laws  clash,  the  latest  law  is  rightly  held  to  express  the 
corrected  will  of  the  legislature ;  but  the  constitution  is  the 
fundamental  code,  the  law  of  laws ;  and  where  there  is  a  con- 
flict between  the  constitution  and  a  decision  of  the  court,  the 
original  permanent  act  of  the  superior  outweighs  the  later  act 
of  the  inferior,  and  retains  its  own  supreme  energy  unaltered 
and  unalterable  except  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  consti- 
tution itseK.  To  say  that  a  court,  having  discovered  an  error, 
should  yet  cling  to  it  because  it  has  once  been  delivered  as  its 
opinion,  is  to  invest  caprice  with  inviolability  and  make  a 
wrong  judgment  of  a  servant  outweigh  the  constitution  to 
which  he  has  sworn  obedience.  An  act  of  the  legislature  at 
variance  with  the  constitution  is  pronounced  void;  an  opin- 
ion of  the  supreme  court  at  variance  with  the  constitution  is 
equally  so. 

^^--^Next  to  the  court  itself,  the  men  who  framed  the  constitu- 
tion relied  upon  the  power  and  the  readiness  of  congress  to 
punish  through  impeachment  the  substitution  of  the  personal 
will  of  the  judge  for  the  law. 

A  third  influence  may  rise  up  "  as  the  rightful  interpreter 
of  this  great  charter  "  of  American  rights  and  American  power 
in  "  the  good  sense  "  f  of  the  land,  wiser  than  the  judges  alone, 

*  Wilson's  Works,  i.,  29.         j  Cooley's  Constitutional  Law,  224  ;  Curtis,  iv.,  390. 
VOL.  VI. — 23 


354:  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  b.  hi.  ;  oh.  x. 

because  it  includes  within  itself  the  wisdom  of  the  judges  them- 
selves ;  and  this  may  lead  either  to  the  better  instruction  of  the 
court,  or  to  an  amendment  of  the  constitution  by  the  collective 
mind  of  the  country. 

The  consolidation  of  the  union  was  to  be  made  visible  to 
the  nation  and  the  world  by  the  establishment  of  a  seat  of  gov- 
ernment for  the  United  States  under  their  exclusive  jurisdic- 
tion ;  and  like  authority  was  to  be  exercised  over  all  places  pur- 
chased for  forts,  dock-yards,  and  other  needful  buildings.*  It 
was  not  doubted  that  the  government  of  the  union  should  de- 
fend each  state  against  foreign  enemies  and  concurrently  against 
domestic  violence ;  and  should  guarantee  to  every  one  of  the 
states  the  form  of  a  republic,  f 

Sherman  hesitated  about  granting  power  to  establish  uni- 
form laws  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies,  lest  they  might  be 
made  punishable  even  with  death.  "  This,"  said  Goavemeur 
Morris,  "  is  an  extensive  and  delicate  subject.  I  see  no  danger 
of  abuse  of  the  power  by  the  legislature  of  the  United  States."  J 
On  the  question  the  clause  was  agreed  to,  Connecticut  alone 
being  in  the  negative. 

So  soon  as  it  was  agreed  that  the  states  should  have  an 
equal  representation  in  the  senate,  the  small  states  ceased  to  be 
jealous  of  its  influence  on  money  bills  ;  finally,  on  the  eighth 
of  September,  it  was  settled  that,  while  all  bills  for  raising 
revenue  should  originate  in  the  house  of  representatives,  the 
senate  might  propose  or  concur  with  amendments  as  on  other 
bills.* 

On  the  same  day,  just  before  the  adjournment,  Williamson 
strove  to  increase  the  number  of  the  first  house  of  representa- 
tives ;  and  was  seconded  by  Madison.  Hamilton  spoke  with 
earnestness  and  anxiety  for  the  motion.  "  I  am,"  said  he,  "  a 
friend  to  a  vigorous  government ;  at  the  same  time  I  hold  it 
essential  that  the  popular  branch  of  the  government  should 
rest  on  a  broad  foundation.  The  house  of  representatives  is  on 
so  narrow  a  scale  as  to  warrant  a  jealousy  in  the  people  for  their 

*  Gilpin,  740,  1218,  1295,  1612;  Elliot,  130,  374,  409,  561. 

f  Gilpin,  734,  861,  1141,  1241,1621  ;  Elliot,  128,  190,  333,  381,  564. 
i  Gilpin,  1481 ;  Elliot,  504. 

*  GUpin,  1494,  1530,  1531  ;  Elliot,  510,  529  ;  Elliot,  i.,  285,  294,  295. 


1787.  THE  FEDERAL  JUDICIARY.  355 

liberties.  The  connection  between  the  president  and  the  senate 
will  tend  to  perpetuate  him  by  corrupt  influence;  on  this 
account  a  numerous  representation  in  the  other  branch  of  the 
legislature  should  be  estabhshed."  The  motion  was  lost  by  one 
majority ;  Pennsylvania  and  the  four  states  nearest  her  on  the 
south  being  outvoted  by  ISTew  Jersey  and  the  JSTew  England  states 
at  one  extreme,  and  South  CaroHna  and  Georgia  at  the  other.* 
It  remained  to  mark  out  the  way  in  which  the  new  consti- 
tution should  be  ratified.  The  convention  had  shown  a  dis- 
inchnation  to  ask  for  it  the  approbation  of  congress.  Hamilton 
saw  in  the  omission  an  indecorum,  and  made  the  rash  motion 
that  congress,  if  they  should  agree  to  the  constitution,  should 
transmit  it  for  ratification  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
states.  Gerry  seconded  him.f  Wilson  strongly  disapproved 
"  the  suspending  the  plan  of  the  convention  on  the  approbation 
of  congress."  He  declared  it  worse  than  folly  to  rely  on  the 
concurrence  of  the  Hhode  Island  members  of  congress.  Mary- 
land had  voted,  on  the  floor  of  the  convention,  for  requiring  the 
unanimous  assent  of  the  thirteen  states  to  the  change  in  the 
federal  system ;  for  a  long  time  New  York  had  not  been  rep- 
resented ;  deputies  from  other  states  had  spoken  against  the 
plan.  "  Can  it  then  be  safe  to  make  the  assent  of  congress 
necessary  ?  We  are  ourselves,  at  the  close,  throwing  insuper- 
able obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  success."  J  Clymer  thought 
the  proposed  mode  would  fetter  and  embarrass  congress ;  and 
King  and  Eutledge  concurring  with  him,  Hamilton's  motion 
was  supported  only  by  Connecticut.*  It  was  then  voted,  in 
the  words  of  the  report  of  the  committee  of  detail :  "  This  con- 
stitution shall  be  laid  before  the  United  States  in  congress 
assembled ;  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  convention  that  it  should 
be  afterward  submitted  to  a  convention  chosen  in  each  state, 
under  the  recommendation  of  its  legislature,  in  order  to  receive 
the  ratiflcation  of  such  convention."  In  substance  this  method 
was  never  changed  ;  in  form  it  was  removed  from  the  constitu- 
tion and  imbodied  in  a  directory  resolution.  | 

*  Gilpin,  1533;  Elliot,  530.  f  Gilpin,  1539;  Elliot,  533. 

X  Gilpin,  1540  ;  Elliot,- 534.  #  Gilpin,  1541 ;  Elliot,  534. 

II  Art.  xxii.  of  draft  of  the  constitution  submitted  to  the  committee  of  revi- 
sion, September  10th.     Gilpin,  1570 ;  Elliot,  541. 


356  THE   FEDEEAL   CONVENTION  b.  iii. ;  ch.  x. 

Eandolpli  now  began  to  speak  of  the  constitution  as  a  plan 
wliicli  would  end  in  tyranny ;  and  proposed  tliat  the  state  con- 
ventions, on  receiving  it,  should  have  power  to  adopt,  reject, 
or  amend  it ;  after  which  another  general  convention  should 
meet  with  full  power  to  adopt  or  reject  the  proposed  altera- 
tions, and  to  establish  finally  the  government.  Frankhn  sec- 
onded the  motion.*  Out  of  respect  to  its  authors,  the  pro- 
position was  allowed  to  remain  on  the  table  ;  but  by  a  unani- 
mous vote  it  was  ordered  that  the  constitution  should  be 
established  on  its  ratification  by  the  conventions  of  nine  states.f 
Finally,  a  committee  of  five  was  appointed  to  revise  its  style 
and  the  arrangement  of  its  articles. 

*  Gilpin,  1542;  Elliot,  535.  f  Gilpin,  1571 ;  Elliot,  541. 


1787.  THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  CONVENTION.  357 


CHAPTEE  XL 

the  last  days  of  the  conventiolsr. 

September  12  to  September  17,  1787. 

The  committee  to  whom  tlie  constitution  was  referred  for 
tlie  arrangement  of  its  articles  and  the  revision  of  its  style 
were  Johnson,  Hamilton,  Gouverneur  Morris,  Madison,  and 
King.  The  final  draft  of  the  instrument  was  written  by  Gou- 
verneur Morris,*  who  laiew  how  to  reject  redundant  and  equiv- 
ocal expressions,  and  to  use  language  with  clearness  and  vigor ; 
but  the  convention  itself  had  given  so  minute,  long-continued, 
and  oft-renewed  attention  to  every  phrase  in  every  section, 
that  there  scarcely  remained  room  for  improvement  except  in 
the  distribution  of  its  parts. 

Its  first  words  are  :  "  We  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  to  establish  justice,  en- 
sure domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  con- 
stitution for  the  United  States  of  America."  Here  is  no  tran- 
sient compact  between  parties  :  it  is  the  institution  of  govern- 
ment by  an  act  of  the  highest  sovereignty ;  the  decree  of  many 
who  are  yet  one ;  their  law  of  laws,  inviolably  supreme,  and 
not  to  be  changed  except  in  the  way  which  their  forecast  has 
provided. 

The  names  of  the  thirteen  states,  so  carefully  enumerated  in 
the  declaration  of  independence  and  in  the  treaty  of  peace,  were 
omitted,  because  the  constitution  was  to  go  into  effect  on  its 
acceptance  by  nine  of  them,  and  the  states  by  which  it  would 

*  G.  Morris  to  T.  Pickering,  22  December  1814,  in  Life  by  Sparks,  iii.,  323. 


358  THE  FEDERAL  COITVENTIOK  b.  m. ;  en.  xi. 

be  ratified  could  not  be  foreknown.  Tlie  deputies  in  the  con- 
vention, representing  but  eleven  states,  did  not  pretend  to  be 
"  the  people ; "  and  could  not  institute  a  general  government 
in  its  name.  The  instrument  which  they  framed  was  like  the 
report  of  a  bill  beginning  with  the  words  "  it  is  enacted,"  though 
the  binding  enactment  awaits  the  will  of  the  legislature;  or 
Kke  a  deed  drawn  up  by  an  attorney  for  several  parties,  and 
awaiting  its  execution  by  the  principals  themselves.  Only  by 
its  acceptance  could  the  words  "  vf e  the  people  of  the  United 
States  "  become  words  of  truth  and  power. 

The  phrase  "general  weKare,"  *  adopted  from  the  articles 
of  confederation,  though  seemingly  vague,  was  employed  in  a 
rigidly  restrictive  sense  to  signify  "  the  concerns  of  the  union 
at  large,  not  the  particular  policy  of  any  state."  f  The  word 
"national"  was  excluded  from  the  constitution,  because  it 
might  seem  to  present  the  idea  of  the  union  of  the  people  with- 
out at  the  same  time  bringing  into  view  that  the  one  republic 
was  formed  out  of  many  states.  Toward  foreign  powers  the 
country  presented  itseK  as  one  nation. 

The  arrangement  of  the  articles  and  sections  is  faultless ; 
the  style  of  the  whole  is  nearly  so.  The  branches  of  the  legis- 
lature are  definitively  named  senate  and  house  of  represen- 
tatives, the  senate,  at  last,  having  precedence ;  the  two  together 
take  the  historic  name  of  congress. 

The  veto  of  the  president  could  still  be  overmled  only  by 
three  fourths  of  each  branch  of  congress ;  the  majority  of  the 
convention,  fearing  lest  so  large  a  requisition  would  impose 
too  great  a  difficulty  in  repeahng  bad  laws,  J  at  this  last  mo- 
ment substituted  the  vote  of  two  thirds. 

"Williamson  pointed  out  the  necessity  of  providing  for 
juries  in  civil  cases.  "  It  is  not  possible,"  said  Gorham,  "  to 
discriminate  equity  cases  from  those  in  which  juries  would  be 
proper;  and  the  matter  may  safely  be  trusted  to  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people."  *  Gerry  urged  the  necessity  of  juries 
as  a  safeguard  against  corrupt  judges.  "  A  general  principle 
laid  down  on  this  and  some  other  points  would  be  sufficient," 

*  Gilpin,  1543;  Elliot,  558. 

\  Washington  to  William  Gordon,  8  July  1183. 

i  Gilpin,  1563  ;  Elliot,  537.  *  Gilpin,  15G5 ;  Elliot,  538. 


1787.  THE  LAST  DAYS   OF  THE  CONYEI^TIOISr.  359 

said  Mason,  and  he  joined  with  Gerry  in  moving  for  a  bill  of 
rights. 

The  declaration  of  American  independence,  by  the  truths 
which  it  announced,  called  forth  sympathy  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Could  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  have  been 
accompanied  by  a  like  solemn  declaration  of  the  principles  on 
which  it  rested,  the  states  would  have  been  held  together  by 
the  holiest  and  strongest  bonds.*  But  the  motion  was  lost 
by  the  unanimous  vote  of  ten  states,  Massachusetts  being  ab- 
sent, and  Ehode  Island  and  'New  York  not  represented. 

The  style  of  the  executive,  as  silently  carried  forward  from 
the  committee  of  detail,  was  still  "  his  Excellency ; "  this  van- 
ished in  the  committee  of  revision,  so  that  he  might  be  known 
only  as  the  president  of  the  United  States. 

Following  a  precedent  of  the  first  congress.  Mason,  on  the 
thirteenth,  seconded  by  Johnson,  moved  for  a  committee  to 
report  articles  of  association  for  encouraging  economy,  fru- 
gality, and  American  manufactures. f  It  was  adopted  without 
debate  and  without  opposition.  The  proposal  was  referred 
to  Mason,  Franklin,  Dickinson,  Johnson,  and  William  Living- 
ston ;  but  they  made  no  report. 

From  the  work  of  the  committee  of  detail  the  word  "  ser- 
vitude "  survived  as  applied  to  the  engagement  to  labor  for  a 
term  of  years ;  on  the  motion  of  Randolph  the  word  "  service  " 

*  Here  manuscripts  and  printed  texts  differ  in  an  astonishing  manner. 

Text  of  Madison  in  Elliot^  «.,  306. 
It  was  moved  and  seconded  to  appoint  a  committee  to  prepare  a  bill  of  rights ; 
which  passed  unanimously  in  the  negative. 

Manuscript  of  Madison. 
On  the  question  for  a  committee  to  prepare  a  bill  of  rights — 
N.  H.  no,  Mas.  abst.,  Ct.  no,  N.  J.  no,  Pa.  no,  Del.  no,  Md.  no,  Ya.  no,  N.  C. 
no,  S.  C.  no,  Geo.  no. 

Text  of  Madison  in  Gilpin^  1566;  in  Elliot,  538. 
On  the  question  for  a  committee  to  prepare  a  bill  of  rights — 
New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  aye — 5 ; 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  no — 5 ;  Massachu- 
setts, absent. 

The  manuscript  of  Madison,  which  is  plainly  written,  represents  the  motion 
as  negatived  unanimously  ;  the  printed  edition,  as  lost  by  a  purely  geographical 
division.     The  change  remains  as  yet  a  mystery. 

f  Gilpin,  1568 ;  Elliot,  540. 


360  THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION.  b.  hi.  ;  ch.  xi. 

was  iinanimously  substituted  for  it,  servitude  being  tliougbt  to 
express  the  condition  of  slaves,  service  an  obligation  of  free 
persons."^ 

On  tlie  same  day  Jolinson,  from  the  committee  on  style, 
reported  t  resolutions  for  the  ratification  of  the  constitution 
through  congress  by  conventions  of  the  people  of  the  several 
states  ;  and  then  for  the  election  of  senators,  representatives, 
and  electors,  and  through  them  of  president.  I^Tothing  was 
omitted  to  make  it  certain  that  at  a  fixed  time  and  place  the 
government  under  the  constitution  would  start  into  being. 

On  the  fourteenth  it  was  confirmed  without  dissent  that 
congress  should  have  no  right  to  change  the  places  of  the  elec- 
tion of  senators. 

The  appointment  of  the  treasurer  as  the  keeper  of  the 
purse  had  thus  far  been  jealously  reserved  to  the  two  houses 
of  congress.  J  It  marks  the  confidence  of  the  convention  in 
its  own  work,  that  at  this  period  the  selection  of  that  officer 
was  confided  to  the  president  and  senate. 

On  the  same  day  Franklin,  seconded  by  Wilson,  moved  to 
add,  after  the  authority  to  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads, 
a  power  "  to  provide  for  cutting  canals."  *  "  The  expense,"  ob- 
jected Sherman,  "  will  fall  on  the  United  States,  and  the  bene- 
fit accrue  to  the  places  where  the  canals  are  cut."  ".Canals," 
replied  \Yilson,  "instead  of  being  an  expense  to  the  United 
States,  may  be  made  a  source  of  revenue."  Madison,  sup- 
ported by  Randolph,  suggested  an  enlargement  of  the  motion 
into  a  warrant  to  grant  charters  of  incorporation  which  might 
exceed  the  legislative  provisions  of  individual  states,  and  yet 
be  required  by  the  interest  of  the  United  States;  political 
obstacles  to  an  easy  communication  between  the  states  being 
removed,  a  removal  of  natural  ones  ought  to  follow.  The 
necessity  of  the  power  was  denied  by  King.  "  It  is  necessa- 
ry," answered  "Wilson,  "  to  prevent  a  state  from  obstructing  the 
general  welfare."  "  The  states,"  rejoined  King,  "  will  be  di- 
vided into  parties  to  grant  charters  of  incorporation,  in  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York  to  a  bank,  in  other  places  to  mercantile 

*  Gilpin,  1233,  1544,  15G9 ;  Elliot,  3T9,  540,  559. 

f  Gilpin,  1570,  1571  ;  Elliot,  541. 

X  Gilpin,  15'74;  Elliot,  542.  «  Gilpin,  1576  ;  Elliot,  543. 


1787.  THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  CONVENTION".  361 

monopolies."  Wilson  mentioned  the  importance  of  facilitat- 
ing by  canals  the  communication  with  the  western  settlements. 
The  motion,  even  when  limited  to  the  case  of  canals,  gained 
no  votes  but  those  of  Pennsylvania,  Yirginia,  and  Georgia.'^"" 

Madison  and  Charles  Pinckney  asked  for  congress  permis- 
sion to  establish  a  university  in  which  no  preferences  should 
be  allowed  on  account  of  religion.  "  The  exclusive  power  of 
congress  at  the  seat  of  government  will  reach  the  object,"  said 
Gouverneur  Morris.  The  motion  was  sustained  only  by  Penn- 
sylvania, Yirginia,  and  ]S"orth  and  South  Carolina ;  in  Connec- 
ticut, Johnson  divided  against  Sherman. f 

In  framing  the  constitution,  Madison  kept  in  mind  that  the 
functions  of  the  general  government  should  extend  to  the 
prevention  of  "  trespasses  of  the  states  on  the  rights  of  each 
other."  :j:  "  The  rights  of  individuals,"  he  said  in  the  conven- 
tion, "  are  infringed  by  many  of  the  state  laws,  such  as  issuing 
paper  money,  and  instituting  a  mode  to  discharge  debts  diifer- 
ing  from  the  form  of  the  contract."  ^  It  has  already  been 
told  how  the  delegates  from  Connecticut  had  agreed  among 
themselves,  "  that  the  legislatures  of  the  individual  states  ought 
not  to  possess  a  right  to  make  any  laws  for  the  discharge  of 
contracts  in  any  manner  different  from  the  agreement  of  the 
parties."  ||  Stringent  clauses  in  the  constitution  already  pro- 
hibited paper  money.  For  the  rest.  King,  as  we  have  seen, 
proposed  a  clause  forbidding  the  states  to  interfere  in  private 
contracts;  but  the  motion  had  been  condemned  as  reaching 
too  far ;  and  instead  of  it,  at  the  instance  of  Rutledge,  the  con- 
vention denied  to  the  states  the  power  "  to  pass  bills  of  attain- 
der or  fa?j9(952^y«cz'(?  laws."  "^  In  this  manner  it  was  supposed 
that  laws  for  closing  the  courts,  or  authorizing  the  debtor  to 
pay  his  debts  by  more  convenient  instalments  than  he  had 
covenanted  for,  were  effectually  prohibited.  But  Dickinson, 
as  we  have  seen,  after  consulting  Blackstone,  mentioned  to 
the  house   that  the  term  ex  post  facto  related  to  criminal 

*  Gilpin,  1576,  1577;  Elliot,  544.         f  Gilpin,  1577,  157S  ;  Elliot,  544. 
:}:  Madison,  i.,  321. 

#  Yates's  Minutes,  Elliot,  i.,  424,  425.     Compare  Gilpin,  898  ;  Elliot,  20a 
II  Sherman  by  J.  Evarts  in  Biography  of  the  Signers,  ii.,  43. 

^Elliot,  i.,  271. 


362  THE  FEDERAL  CO:&TYENTIOK  b.  iii. ;  oh.  xi. 

cases  only;  and  that  restraint  of  the  states  from  retrospec- 
tive law  in  civil  cases  would  require  some  further  provision.* 
Before  an  explanatory  provision  had  been  made,  the  section 
came  into  the  liands  of  the  committee  on  revision  and  style. 
That  committee  had  no  authority  to  bring  forward  any  new 
proposition,  but  only  to  make  corrections  of  style.  Gouver- 
neur  Morris  retained  the  clause  forbidding  ex  post  facto  laws; 
and,  resolute  not  "  to  countenance  the  issue  of  paper  money  and 
the  consequent  violation  of  contracts,"  f  he  of  himself  added 
the  words  :  "  Ko  state  shall  pass  laws  altering  or  impairing  the 
obligation  of  contracts."  The  convention  reduced  the  explan- 
atory words  to  the  shorter  form :  "  No  state  shall  pass  any  law 
impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts."  J  In  this  manner  an 
end  was  designed  to  be  made  to  barren  land  laws,  laws  for  the 
instalment  of  debts,  and  laws  closing  the  courts  against  suitors. 

On  the  fifteenth,  from  fresh  information,  it  appeared  to 
Sherman  that  !N"orth  Carolina  was  entitled  to  another  represen- 
tative ;  and  Langdon  moved  to  allow  one  more  member  to  that 
state,  and  likewise  one  more  to  Rhode  Island.*  "  If  Rhode 
Island  is  to  be  allowed  two  members,"  said  King, "  I  can  never 
sign  the  constitution." 

Charles  Pinckney  urged  separately  the  just  claim  of  l!Torth 
Carolina ;  on  which  Bedford  put  in  a  like  claim  for  Rhode 
Island  and  for  Delaware;  and  the  original  proposition  was 
hopelessly  defeated.  || 

Randolph  and  Madison  disliked  leaving  the  pardon  for 
treason  to  the  president  alone ;  but  the  convention  would  not 
suffer  the  legislature  or  the  senate  to  share  that  power. ''^ 

The  committee  of  revision  had  described  a  fugitive  slave  as 
"  a  person  legally  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state."  The 
language  seemed  to  imply  that  slavery  was  a  "  legal "  condition ; 
the  last  word  of  the  convention  relating  to  the  subject  defined 
the  fugitive  slave  to  be  "  a  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in 
one  state  under  the  laws  thereof,"  making  it  clear  that,  in  the 
meaning  of  the  constitution,  slavery  was  local  and  not  federal.^ 

*  Gilpin,  1450  ;  Elliot,  488.  *  Gilpin,  1583  ;  Elliot,  547. 

f  G.  Morris  by  Sparks,  iii.,  323.  |i  Gilpin,  1583,  1584  ;  Elliot,  64'7. 

i  Gilpin,  1552,  1581 ;  Elliot,  546,  561.  ^  Gilpin,  1587  ;  Elliot,  549. 

^  Gilpin,  1558,  1589,  1620;  Elliot,  650,  564. 


1787.  THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  CONVENTION.  363 

The  convention  gave  tlie  last  touches  to  the  modes  of 
amending  the  constitution.  In  August  the  committee  of  detail 
had  reported  that,  "  on  the  application  of  the  legislatures  of 
two  thirds  of  the  states  in  the  union,  the  legislature  of  the 
United  States  shall  call  a  convention  for  that  purpose."  *  On 
the  thirtieth  day  of  August,  Gouverneur  Morris  had  suggested 
that  congress  "  should  be  at  liberty  to  call  a  convention  when- 
ever it  pleased."  f  "An  easier  mode  of  introducing  amend- 
ments," said  Hamilton,  reviving  the  question,  "is  desirable. 
The  state  legislatures  will  not  apply  for  alterations  but  with  a 
view  to  increase  their  own  powers.  The  national  legislature 
will  be  the  first  to  perceive  the  necessity  of  amendments ;  and 
on  the  concurrence  of  each  branch  ought  to  be  empowered  to 
call  a  convention,  reserving  the  final  decision  to  the  people."  J 
Madison  supported  Hamilton. 

Here  Sherman  suggested  an  alternative:  the  legislature 
may  propose  amendments  directly  to  the  several  states,  not  to 
be  binding  until  consented  to  by  them  all.*  "  To  be  binding 
when  consented  to  by  two  thirds  of  the  several  states,"  inter- 
posed Wilson.  To  facilitate  amendments,  the  convention  au- 
thorized two  thirds  of  congress  to  introduce  amendments  to 
the  constitution ;  but,  to  prevent  hasty  changes,  required  for 
their  ratification  the  assent  of  three  fourths  of  the  legislatures 
or  conventions  of  the  states. 

Madison,  summing  up  the  ideas  that  had  found  favor, 
moved  that  the  legislature  of  the  United  States,  upon  a  vote  of 
two  thirds  of  both  houses,  or  upon  the  application  of  two 
thirds  of  the  legislatures  of  the  states,  shall  propose  amend- 
ments to  the  constitution  which  shall  be  valid  when  they  shall 
have  been  ratified  by  three  fourths  at  least  of  the  several  states 
in  their  legislatures  or  conventions,  as  one  or  the  other  mode 
of  ratification  may  be  proposed  by  the  legislature  of  the  United 
States.  II 

This  motion  was  accepted,  but  not  till  it  had  been  agreed 
that  the  clauses  in  the  constitution  forming  special  covenants 
with  the  South  on  slavery  should  not  be  liable  to  change. 

*  Gilpin,  1241 ;  Elliot,  381.  «  Gilpin,  1535 ;  Elliot,  631. 

f  Gilpin,  1468 ;  Elliot,  498.  |  Ibid. 

X  Gilpin,  1534;  Elliot,  £31. 


364:  THE   FEDEEAL   CONVENTION".         b.  hi.  ;  ch.  xi. 

Five  days  later  the  fears  of  tlie  small  states  were  quieted  by  a 
proviso  that  no  state  mthoiit  its  own  consent  should  ever  be 
deprived  of  its  equality  in  the  senate.* 

Finally,  on  maturest  reflection,  the  proposition  of  the  com- 
mittee of  detail,  obliging  congress  to  call  a  convention  on  ap- 
plication of  two  thirds  of  the  states,  was  restored.  Amend- 
ments to  the  constitution  might  proceed  from  the  people  as 
represented  in  the  legislatures  of  the  states ;  or  from  the  peo- 
ple as  represented  in  congress ;  or  from  the  people  as  present 
in  a  convention  ;  in  every  case  to  be  valid  only  with  the  assent 
of  three  fourths  of  the  states. 

Mason,  in  sullen  discontent  at  the  grant  of  power  to  a  bare 
majority  of  congress  to  pass  navigation  acts,  and  dreading  that 
"  a  few  rich  merchants  in  Philadelphia,  j^ew  York,  and  Bos- 
ton" might  by  that  means  monopolize  the  staples  of  the  south- 
ern states  and  reduce  their  value  perhaps  fifty  per  cent,  moved 
"  that  no  law  in  the  nature  of  a  navigation  act  be  passed  before 
the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  eight,  without  the  consent  of 
two  thirds  of  each  branch  of  the  legislature  ; "  but  he  was  sup- 
ported only  by  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Georgia. f 

ISText,  Randolph,  whose  weight  as  governor  of  Yirginia 
might  turn  the  scale  in  that  state,  declared  his  intention  to 
withhold  his  signature  from  the  constitution  that  he  miglit  re- 
tain freedom  as  to  his  ultimate  action ;  and,  agreeing  exactly 
with  Ricliard  Henry  Lee, :[  he  moved  "  that  state  conventions 
might  have  the  power  to  offer  to  the  constitution  which  was  to 
be  laid  before  them  as  many  amendments  as  they  pleased  ;  and 
that  these  amendments,  together  with  the  constitution,  should 
be  submitted  to  another  general  convention  "  *  for  a  final  de- 
cision. He  was  seconded  by  Mason,  who  said :  "  The  govern- 
ment as  established  by  the  constitution  will  surely  end  either 
in  monarchy  or  a  tyrannical  aristocracy.  As  it  now  stands,  I 
can  neither  give  it  my  support  in  Yirginia,  nor  sign  it  here. 
With  the  expedient  of  another  convention  I  could  sign."  || 

"  I,  too,"  said  Charles  Pinckney,  "  object  to  the  power  of 
a  majority  of  congress  over  commerce  ;  but,  apprehending  the 

*  Gilpin,  1592  ;  Elliot,  552.  |  Gilpin,  1593  ;  Elliot,  552. 

t  Compare  R.  II.  Lee  to  Chancellor  Pendleton,  22  May  1783,  in  Life,  ii.,  93,  94. 

*  Gilpin,  1593  ;  Elliot,  552.  ||  Gilpin,  1591 ;  Elliot,  552,  553. 


1787.  THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  CONVENTION".  365 

danger  of  a  general  confusion  and  an  ultimate  decision  by  the 
sword,  I  shall  give  the  ])lan  my  support."  Then  Gerry  counted 
up  eight  objections  to  the  constitution,  "  all "  of  which  he 
could  yet  get  over,  were  it  not  that  the  legislature  had  general 
power  to  make  "  necessary  and  proper  "  laws,  to  raise  "  armies 
and  money  "  without  limit,  and  to  establish  "  a  star  chamber 
as  to  civil  cases  ; "  and  he,  too,  contended  for  a  second  general 
convention. 

On  the  proposition  for  another  convention  all  the  states 
answered  "  ISTo."  Washington  then  put  the  question  of  agree- 
ing to  the  constitution  in  its  present  form ;  and  all  the  states 
present  answered  "  Aye."  The  constitution  was  then  ordered 
to  be  engrossed,  and  late  on  the  evening  of  Saturday  the  house 
adjourned.* 

One  morning  Washington,  in  a  desultory  conversation  with 
members  of  the  convention  before  the  chair  was  taken,  observed 
how  unhappy  it  would  be  should  any  of  them  oppose  the  sys- 
tem when  they  returned  to  their  states.f  On  Monday,  the 
seventeenth  of  September,  Franklin  made  a  last  effort  to  win 
over  the  dissenting  members.  "  Mr.  President,"  said  he,  "  sev- 
eral parts  of  this  constitution  I  do  not  at  present  approve,  but 
I  am  not  sure  I  shall  never  approve  them.  It  astonishes  me  to 
find  this  system  approaching  so  near  to  perfection.  I  consent 
to  this  constitution  because  I  e:q)ect  no  better,  and  because  I 
am  not  sure  that  it  is  not  the  best.  The  opinions  I  have  had 
of  its  errors  I  sacrifice  to  the  public  good. 

"  On  the  whole,  sir,  I  cannot  help  expressing  a  wish  that 
every  member  of  the  convention,  who  may  still  have  objections 
to  it,  would  with  me  on  this  occasion  doubt  a  little  of  his  own 
infallibility,  and,  to  manifest  our  unanimity,  put  his  name  to 
this  instrument."  J  He  then  moved  that  the  constitution  be 
signed  by  the  members  ;  and  he  offered  as  the  form  of  signa- 
ture a  simple  testimony  that  the  constitution  had  received  "  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  states  present."  *  But  this  ample 
concession  induced  neither  Mason,  nor  Gerry,  nor  Eandolph 
to  relent. 

*  Gilpin,  1595;  Elliot,  553. 

•f  Luther  Martin  in  Maiyland  Journal  of  21  March  1788. 

X  Gilpin,  1597,  1598;  Elliot,  554,  555.  ^Gilpin,  1598;  Elliot,  555. 


366  THE  FEDERAL  CONYENTIOK  b.  iii. ;  oh.  xi. 

Before  the  question  was  put,  Gorham,  obeying  an  intima- 
tion from  Washington,  proposed  to  render  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives a  more  popular  body  by  allowing  one  member  for 
every  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  He  was  warmly  seconded 
by  King  and  Carroll.* 

Hising  to  put  the  question,  the  president,  after  an  apology 
for  offering  his  sentiments,  said :  "  I  would  make  objections  to 
the  plan  as  few  as  possible.  The  smallness  of  the  number  of 
representatives  has  been  considered  by  many  members  as  in- 
sufficient security  for  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people ; 
and  to  myseK  has  always  appeared  exceptionable ;  late  as  is  the 
moment,  it  will  give  me  much  satisfaction  to  see  the  amend- 
ment adopted."  f  And  at  his  word  it  was  adopted  unani- 
mously. 

On  the  question  to  agree  to  the  engrossed  constitution,  all 
the  states  answered  "  Aye."  J 

Kandolph  then  apologized  for  refusing  to  sign  the  constitu- 
tion, "notwithstanding  the  vast  majority  and  the  venerable 
names  which  gave  sanction  to  its  wisdom  and  its  worth.  I  do 
not  mean  by  this  refusal,"  he  continued,  "  to  decide  that  I  shall 
oppose  the  constitution  without  doors ;  I  mean  only  to  keep 
myself  free  to  be  governed  by  my  duty,  as  it  shall  be  prescribed 
by  my  future  judgment."  * 

"  I,  too,  had  objections,"  said  Gouverneur  Morris ;  "  but  con- 
sidering the  present  plan  the  best  that  can  be  attained,  I  shall 
take  it  with  all  its  faults.  The  moment  it  goes  forth,  the 
great  question  will  be :  '  Shall  there  be  a  national  government, 
or  a  general  anarchy  ? ' " 

"  I  am  anxious,"  said  Hamilton,  "that  every  member  should 
sign.  A  few  by  refusing  may  do  infinite  mischief.  No  man's 
ideas  are  more  remote  from  the  plan  than  my  own  are  known 
to  be;  but  is  it  possible  to  deliberate  between  anarchy  and 
convulsion  on  the  one  side,  and  the  chance  of  good  to  be  ex- 
pected from  the  plan  on  the  other  ? "  || 

"  I,"  said  Gerry,  "  fear  a  civil  war.  In  Massachusetts  there 
are  two  parties :  one  devoted  to  democracy,  the  worst,  I  think, 
of  all  political  evils ;  the  other  as  violent  in  the  opposite  ex- 

*  Gilpin,  1599 ;  Elliot,  555.  f  Gilpin,  1599,  1600;  Elliot,  556,  566. 

X  Gilpin,  1600  ;  Elliot,  556.  #  Ibid.  ||  Gilpin,  1601 ;  Elliot,  556. 


1787.  THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  COITYENTION.  367 

treme.     From  tlie  collision  of  these,  confusion  is  greatlj  to  be 
feared." 

"  I  shall  sign  the  constitution  with  a  view  to  support  it  with 
all  my  influence,"  said  Cotesworth  Pinclmey,  "  and  I  wish  to 
pledge  myself  accordingly."  ^  Jared  IngersoU  of  Pennsyl- 
vania considered  the  signing  as  a  recommendation  of  what,  all 
things  considered,  was  the  most  eligible. 

The  form  proposed  by  Franklin  was  accepted  with  no  dis- 
sent, except  that  South  Carolina  was  impatient  at  its  want  of 
an  affirmative  expression  of  unhesitating  approval.  The  jour- 
nals and  papers  of  the  convention  were  confided  to  the  care  of 
the  president,  subject  to  the  order  of  the  new  government  when 
it  should  be  formed. f  Hamilton  successively  inscribed  on  the 
great  sheet  of  parchment  the  name  of  each  state  as  the  dele- 
gations one  after  the  other  came  forward  in  geographical  order 
and  signed  the  constitution.  When  it  appeared  that  the  unani- 
mous consent  of  all  the  eleven  states  present  in  convention  was 
recorded  in  its  favor,  Franklin,  looking  toward  a  sun  which 
was  blazoned  on  the  president's  chair,  said  of  it  to  those  near 
him:  "In  the  vicissitudes  of  hope  and  fear  I  was  not  able  to 
tell  whether  it  was  rising  or  setting ;  now  I  know  that  it  is  the 
rising  sun."  J 

The  members  were  awe-struck  at  the  result  of  their  coun-'. 
cils ;  the  constitution  was  a  nobler  work  than  any  one  of  them/ 
had  believed  it  possible  to  devise.     They  all  on  that  day  dined 
together,  and  took  a  cordial  leave  of  each  other.     "Washington 
at  an  early  hour  of  the  evening  retired  "  to  meditate  on  the 
momentous  work  which  had  been  executed."  * 

*  Gilpin,  1603,  1604 ;  Elliot,  557,  558.      t  Gilpin,  1624  ;  Elliot,  565. 

f  Gilpin,  1605 ;  Elliot,  558.  *  Diarj  of  Washington  for  the  day. 


THE 


FOMATIOX  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 


UNITED    STATES    OF    AMEEIOA 


/iVr  FIVE  BOOKS. 


BOOK  FOURTH. 

THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  STATES  IN"  JUDGMENT  ON  THE 
CO:t^STITUTION'. 


1787-1^ 


VOL.  VI. — 24 


CHAPTER  I. 

the  constitution  in  congress  and  in  vieginia. 
Septe:mbek  to  Novei^iber  1787. 

On  the  twentieth  of  September  the  letter  of  the  president 
of  the  convention  to  the  president  of  congress,  the  full  text  of 
the  proposed  constitution,  and  the  order  of  the  convention, 
were  laid  before  congress,  and  on  the  next  day  appeared  in 
tlie  daily  papers  of  'New  York. 

The  letter  of  Washington  said :  The  powers  necessary  to 
be  vested  in  "  the  general  government  of  the  union  "  are  too 
extensive  to  be  delegated  to  "  one  body  of  men."  ''  It  is  im- 
practicable, in  the  federal  government  of  these  states,  to  secure 
all  rights  of  independent  sovereignty  to  each,  and  yet  provide 
for  the  interest  and  safety  of  all ;  it  is  difficult  to  draw  with 
precision  the  line  between  those  rights  which  must  be  sur- 
rendered and  those  which  may  be  reserved ;  on  the  present 
occasion  this  difficulty  was  increased  by  a  difference  among 
the  several  states  as  to  their  situation,  extent,  habits,  and  par- 
ticular interests.  We  kept  steadily  in  view  the  consolida- 
tion of  our  union,  in  which  is  involved  our  prosperity,  felicity, 
safety,  perhaps  our  national  existence.  And  thus  the  consti- 
tution which  we  now  present  is  the  result  of  that  mutual  def- 
erence and  concession  which  the  peculiarity  of  our  political 
situation  rendered  indispensable." 

The  constitution  instantly  met  with  opposition  from  the  in- 
defatigable Richard  Henry  Lee,*  supported  by  Nathan  Dane  f 
and  all  the  delegates  from  ISTew  York,  of  whom  Melancthon 

*  Carrington  to  Madison,  Sunday,  23  September  IVSY. 
f  Gilpin^  643,  650;  Elliot,  506,  568. 


372       THE   STATES   RATIFY   THE   CONSTITUTION",  b.  iv.;oh.i. 

Smith,  was  the  ablest.  Till  Madison  returned,  the  delegates 
from  Yirginia  were  equally  divided,  Grayson  opposing  the 
government  because  it  was  too  feeble,  and  Lee  because  it  was 
too  strong.*  Already  the  JS'ew  York  faction  was  actively 
scattering  the  seeds  of  opposition,  and  Hamilton  dauntlessly 
opposing  them  in  the  public  papers  by  arguments  for  union,  f 

It  was  only  out  of  the  ashes  of  the  confederation  that  the 
new  constitution  could  spring  into  being ;  and  the  letter  of  the 
convention  did  indeed  invite  congress  to  light  its  own  funeral 
pyre.  On  the  twenty-sixth  it  was  first  contended  that  con- 
gress could  not  properly  give  any  positive  countenance  to  a 
measure  subversive  of  the  confederation  to  which  they  owed 
their  existence.  To  this  it  was  answered,  that  in  February 
congress  itself  had  recommended  the  convention  as  "  the  most 
probable  means  of  establishing  a  firm  national  government," 
and  that  it  was  not  now  more  restrained  from  acceding  to  the 
new  plan  than  the  convention  from  proposing  it.  If  the  plan 
was  within  the  powers  of  the  convention,  it  was  within  those  of 
congress ;  if  beyond  those  powers,  the  necessity  which  justified 
the  one  would  justify  the  other ;  and  the  necessity  existed  if 
any  faith  was  due  to  the  representations  of  congress  them- 
selves, confirmed  by  twelve  states  in  the  union  and  by  the  gen- 
eral voice  of  the  people. 

Lee  next  attempted  to  amend  the  act  of  the  convention  be- 
fore it  should  go  forth  from  congress  to  the  people.  "  Where," 
said  he,  "  is  the  contract  between  the  nation  and  the  govern- 
ment? The  constitution  makes  mention  only  of  those  who 
govern,  and  nowhere  speaks  of  the  rights  ^of  the  people  who 
are  governed."  :j:  He  wished  to  qualify  the  immense  power  of 
the  government  by  a  bill  of  rights,  which  had  always  been  re- 
garded as  the  palladium  of  a  free  people.  The  bill  of  rights 
was  to  relate  to  the  rights  of  conscience,  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  the  trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases  as  well  as  criminal,  tlie 
prohibition  of  standing  armies,  freedom  of  elections,  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  judges,  security  against  excessive  bails,  fines, 
or  punishments,  against  unreasonable  searches  or  seizure  of 

*  Carrington  to  Jefferson,  23  October  1787. 

•f  Carrington  to  Madison,  23  September  1787. 

X  Minister  Otto  to  Count  Montmorin,  New  York,  23  October  1787. 


1787.  THE   CONSTITUTION   IN   CONGRESS.  373 

persons,  houses,  papers,  or  property ;  and  tlie  right  of  petition. 
He  further  proposed  amendments  to  the  constitution ;  a  coun- 
cil of  state  or  privy  council,  to  be  joined  with  the  president  in 
the  appointment  of  all  officers,  so  as  to  prevent  the  blending 
of  legislative  and  executive  powers ;  no  vice-president ;  an  in- 
crease of  the  number  of  the  representatives ;  and  the  requisi- 
tion of  more  than  a  majority  to  make  commercial  regulations. 

The  restraint  on  the  power  of  regulating  commerce  and 
navigation  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  wealth  and  prosperity 
of  'New  York.  J^evertheless,  the  propositions  of  Lee  were 
supported  by  Melancthon  Smith,  who  insisted  that  congress 
had  the  undoubted  right  and  the  duty  to  amend  the  plan  of 
the  federal  constitution,  in  which  the  essential  safeguards  of 
liberty  had  been  omitted.  To  this  it  was  replied  that  congress 
had  certainly  a  right  of  its  own  to  propose  amendments,  but 
that  these  must  be  addressed  to  the  legislatures  of  the  states, 
and  would  require  ratification  by  all  the  thirteen ;  but  that  the 
act  of  the  federal  convention  was  to  be  addressed  to  conven- 
tions of  the  several  states,  of  which  any  nine  might  adopt  it 
for  themselves.  So  the  first  day's  debate  ended  without  ad- 
mitting the  proposed  amendments  to  consideration.* 

The  next  day  Lee,  seconded  by  Smith,  offered  a  resolution 
that  congress  had  no  power  whatever  to  assist  f  in  creating  a 
"  new  confederacy  of  nine  "  states ;  and  therefore  he  would  do 
no  more  than,  as  a  mark  of  respect,  forward  the  acts  of  the 
convention  to  the  executives  of  every  state  to  be  laid  before 
their  respective  legislatures.  On  the  instant  Abraham  Clarke 
of  New  Jersey,  seconded  by  Nathaniel  Mitchell  of  Delaware, 
proposed  to  add :  "  In  order  to  be  by  them  submitted  to  con- 
ventions of  delegates  to  be  chosen  agreeably  to  the  said  resolu- 
tions of  the  convention."  On  the  question,  Georgia  and  the 
two  Carolinas  voted  unanimously  against  Lee ;  so  did  Dela- 
ware and  the  only  member  from  Maryland,  with  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire. 
Virginia,  on  the  return  of  Madison,  joined  them  by  the  in- 
flexible  majority  of  Madison,  Carrington,  and   Henry  Lee, 

*  Madison  to  Washington,  New  York,  30  September  1787 ;  R.  H.  Lee  to  Sam- 
uel Adams,  New  York,  5  October  1787  ;  Life  of  R.  H.  Lee,  ii.,  74,  76. 
f  Gilpin,  643 ;  Elliot,  566. 


371       THE   STATES   RATIFY  THE   C0:N'STITUTI0N.  B.iv.;cn.i. 

against  Grajson  and  Eichard  Henry  Lee.  All  the  states  ex- 
cept 'New  York  were  for  tlie  motion;  and  all  except  New 
York  and  Yirginia  were  unanimously  so.  The  majority  in 
congress  was  impatient  to  express  its  approval  of  the  acts  of 
the  convention  in  still  stronger  language ;  Carrington  of  Yir- 
ginia, therefore,  seconded  by  Bingham  of  Pennsylvania,  pro- 
posed that  it  be  recommended  to  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
states  to  cause  conventions  to  be  held  as  speedily  as  may  be,  to 
the  end  that  the  same  may  be  adopted,  ratified,  and  confirmed.* 

In  this  stage  of  the  business  congress  adjourned.  The 
friends  of  the  new  constitution  desired  to  send  it  to  the  states 
by  the  unanimous  vote  of  congress.  The  members  from  New 
York  would  not  consent  to  any  language  that  implied  approval. 
To  win  their  vote  the  resolution  of  congress  must  be  neutral. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  idea  of  unanimity  required  the  efiiace- 
ment  of  every  motion  adverse  to  the  reference  of  the  consti- 
tution. Accordingly,  congress,  when  it  next  assembled,  ex- 
punged from  its  journal  the  proposed  amendments  of  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  and  the  vote  of  the  preceding  day ;  f  and  having 
obliterated  every  record  of  opposition,  it  resolved  on  the 
twenty-eighth  unanimously,  eleven  states  being  present,  Mary- 
land having  one  delegate,  Rhode  Island  alone  being  altogether 
unrepresented,  that  the  said  report,  with  the  resolutions  and 
letter  accompanying  the  same,  be  transmitted  to  the  several 
legislatures,  in  order  to  be  submitted  to  a  convention  of  dele- 
gates chosen  in  each  state  by  the  people  thereof,  in  conformity 
to  the  resolves  of  the  convention.  :j; 

Bafiled  within  the  convention,  Richard  Henry  Lee  appealed 
to  the  world  through  the  press  in  a  series  of  "  Letters  from  the 
Federal  Farmer,"  of  which  thousands  of  copies  were  scattered 
through  the  central  states.  He  acknowledged  the  necessity  of 
reforming  the  government,  but  claimed  to  discern  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  aristocracy  in  every  part  of  the  proposed  constitution, 
which  he  slighted  as  the  work  of  visionary  young  men,*  bent 
on  changing  the  thirteen  distinct  independent  republics  under 
a  federal  head  into  one  consolidated  government."^     He  way- 

*  MS.  Journals  of  Congress  in  S;;ate  Department. 

f  MS.  Journals  of  Congress.  *  Letters  from  tlie  Federal  Farmer,  8. 

:}:  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.,  '782.  ^  Letters  from  the  Federal  Farmer,  6. 


nsr.  THE   CONSTITUTION   IN  VIRGINIA.  375 

laid  Gerry  when  bound  for  home,  and  assisted  him  in  prepar- 
ing an  official  letter  to  explain  his  refusal  to  sign  the  constitu- 
tion, lie  addressed  himself  to  Samuel  Adams,  the  "dear 
friend  with  whom  he  had  long  toiled  in  the  vineyard  of  lib- 
erty," submitting  to  his  wisdom  and  patriotism  the  objections 
to  the  new  constitution  which  he  had  proposed  in  congress  in 
the  form  of  amendments,  but  disingenuously  substituting  other 
words  for  his  remonstrance  against  vesting  congress  with 
power  to  regulate  commerce.  He  extended  his  intrigues  to 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  hoping  to  delay  their  decisions. 

"  I  am  waiting  wdth  anxiety  for  the  echo  from  Virginia, 
but  with  very  faint  hopes  of  its  corresponding  with  my  wishes," 
wrote  Madison  from  N^ew  York  city  to  Washington.*  The 
party  in  power  in  ISTew  York  was  passionately  opposed  to  the 
constitution ;  but  already  day  had  begun  to  scatter  the  dusk  of 
earliest  morning. 

In  the  first  moment  after  his  return  to  Mount  Yernon, 
Washington  sent  a  copy  of  the  constitution  to  Patrick  IIenry,f 
to  Harrison,  and  to  Nelson,  each  of  whom  had  been  governor 
of  Virginia.  In  a  propitiatory  letter  he  appealed  to  their  ex- 
perience of  the  difficulties  which  had  ever  arisen  in  attempts  to 
reconcile  the  interests  and  local  prejudices  of  the  several  states. 
"  I  wish,"  he  continued,  "  the  constitution  which  is  offered  had 
been  more  perfect ;  but  it  is  the  best  that  could  be  obtained  at 
this  time,  and  a  door  is  opened  for  amendments  hereafter. 
The  political  concerns  of  this  country  are  suspended  by  a 
thread.  The  convention  has  been  looked  up  to  by  the  reflect- 
ing part  of  the  community  with  a  solicitude  which  is  hardly  to 
be  conceived  ;  and  if  nothing  had  been  agreed  on  by  that  body, 
anarchy  would  soon  have  ensued,  the  seeds  being  deeply  sown 
in  every  soil." 

A  visitor  at  Mount  Vernon,  just  after  this  letter  was  sent 
out,  writes  of  Washington :  "  He  is  in  perfect  health,  and  looks 
almost  as  well  as  he  did  twenty  years  ago.  I  never  in  my  life 
saw  him  so  keen  for  anything  as  he  is  for  the  adoption  of  the 
new  form  of  government."  J    Throughout  the  whole  country  he 

*  Madison  to  Washington.     Gilpin,  646  ;  Elliot,  567. 

f  Washington  to  Henry,  24  September  1181.     Sparks,  ix.,  265. 

t  A.  DoualJ  to  Jclierscn,  12  November  1787. 


\\J^ 


376       THE   STATES   EATIFY   THE   COI^STITUTIOK  b.  iv.  ;  on.  i. 

was  the  centre  of  interest ;  in  Yirginia  of  power.  The  leaders 
of  opposition  answered  him  frankly,  but  with  expressions  of 
deference  and  affection. 

"  The  seeds  of  civil  discord,"  replied  Harrison,  "  are  plenti- 
fully sown  in  very  many  of  the  powers  given,  both  to  the  presi- 
dent and  congress.  If  the  constitution  is  carried  into  effect, 
the  states  south  of  the  Potomac  will  be  little  more  than  ap- 
pendages to  those  to  the  nortWard  of  it.  My  objections 
chiefly  he  against  the  unlimited  powers  of  taxation,  the  regula- 
tion of  trade,  and  the  jurisdictions  that  are  to  be  established  in 
every  state  altogether  independent  of  their  laws.  The  sword 
and  such  powers  will,  nay,  must,  sooner  or  later  establish  a 
tyranny."  * 

Avowing  very  sincerely  "  the  highest  reverence  "  for  Wash- 
ington, Patrick  Henry  answered  positively :  "  I  cannot  bring 
my  mind  to  accord  with  the  proposed  constitution."  f 

George  Mason,  who  had  rendered  the  highest  and  wisest 
service  in  shaping  the  constitution,  now  from  wounded  pride 
resisted  his  inmost  convictions,  enumerating  to  his  old  friend 
his  objections,  of  which  the  grant  to  congress  of  power  to  regu- 
late commerce  by  a  bare  majority  was  the  capital  one. ;{: 

I^ext  Richard  Henry  Lee,  professing  himself  "  compelled 
by  irresistible  conviction  of  mind  to  doubt  about  the  new  sys- 
tem for  federal  government,"  wrote :  "  It  is,  sir,  in  consequence 
of  long  reflection  upon  the  nature  of  man  and  of  government, 
that  I  am  led  to  fear  the  danger  that  will  ensue  to  civil  hberty 
from  the  adoption  of  the  new  system  in  its  j)resent  form." 
And,  having  at  once  fixed  in  his  mind  the  plan  on  which  resist- 
ance to  its  adoption  should  be  conducted,  he  avowed  his  wish 
"  that  such  amendments  as  would  give  security  to  the  rights  of 
human  nature  and  the  discordant  interests  of  the  different  parts 
of  this  union  might  employ  anotlier  convention."  * 

But  the  influence  of  Washington  outweighed  them  all. 
He  was  embosomed  in  the  affections  and  enshrined  in  the  pride 
of  the  people  of  Yirginia ;  and  in  all  their  v/averings  during 

*  Sparks,  ix.,  266,  267.     Note.  f  Sparks,  ix.,  266.     Note. 

X  George  Mason  to  Washington,  7  October  1787.     Sparks,  ix.,  267,  268.     Note. 

*  R.  H.  Lee  to  Washington,  New  York,  11  October  1787.     Letters  to  W.,  iv., 
180,  181. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  VIRGINIA.  377 

tlie  nine  months  following  the  federal  convention  he  was  the 
anchor  of  the  constitution.  His  neighbors  of  Alexandria  to  a 
man  agreed  with  him ;  and  Fairfax  county  unanimously  in- 
structed its  representatives,  of  whom  George  Mason  was  one, 
"  that  the  peace,  security,  and '  prosperity  of  Yirginia  and  of 
the  United  States  depended  on  the  speedy  adoption  of  the 
federal  constitution."  *  ^. 

In  the  close  division  of  parties  in  the  state  it  was  of  vital 
importance  to  secure  the  influence  of  Edmund  Eandolph,  its 
governor ;  and  his  old  military  chief  in  due  time  received  from 
him  an  elaborate  paper  which  he  had  prepared  in  the  form  of 
an  address  to  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  delegates.  In  this 
letter,  not  yet  pledging  himself  to  the  unconditional  support 
of  the  constitution,  he  avowed  that  he  prized  the  intimate  and 
unshaken  friendship  of  Washington  and  Madison  as  among 
the  happiest  of  all  his  acquisitions ;  but  added :  '^  Dreadful  as 
the  total  dissolution  of  the  union  is  to  my  mind,  I  entertain  no 
less  horror  at  the  thought  of  partial  confederacies.  The  ut- 
most limit  of  any  partial  confederacy  which  Yirginia  could 
expect  to  form  would  comprehend  the  three  southern  and  her 
nearest  northern  neighbor.  But  they,  like  ourselves,  are  di- 
minished in  their  real  force  by  the  mixture  of  an  unhappy 
species  of  population."  f 

Monroe  wrote  to  Madison  that  his  "  strong  objections  "  to 
the  constitution  "  were  overbalanced  by  the  arguments  in  its 
favor."  :j: 

The  legislature  of  Yirginia  was  to  hold  its  regular  meeting 
on  the  third  Monday  of  October ;  this  year  there  was  a  quo- 
rum on  the  first  day  of  the  session,  which  had  not  happened 
since  the  revolution. 

On  the  nineteenth  the  vote  of  congress  transniitting  the 
constitution  came  before  the  house ;  Patrick  Henry,  refus- 
ing to  make  an  issue  where  he  would  have  met  with  de- 
feat, declared  that  the  constitution  must  go  before  a  conven- 

*  Meeting  of  Fairfax  county,  Tuesday,  2  October  1787.  Carey's  Museum,  ii., 
892,393. 

f  Edmund  Randolph  to  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  delegates  of  Yirginia,  10 
October  1787.     Elliot,  i.,  487. 

I  Monroe  to  Madison,  13  October  1787. 


378       THE   STATES   KATIFY   THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  i. 

tion,  as  it  transcended  the  power  of  the  house  to  decide  on 
it.* 

But  when,  on  the  twentj-fifth,  Francis  Corbin  proposed 
"  a  convention  to  be  called  according  to  the  recommendation 
of  congress,"  Henry  objected  that  under  that  limitation  its 
members  "  would  have  power  to  adopt  or  reject  the  new  plan, 
but  not  to  propose  amendments  "  of  its  "  errors  and  defects." 
His  motion  to  give  this  power  to  the  convention  of  the  state 
was  seconded  by  Mason,  w4io  added  :  "  I  declare  that  from  the 
east  of  JS^ew  Hampshire  to  the  south  of  Georgia  there  is  not  a 
man  more  fully  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  establishing 
some  general  government  than  I  am ;  that  I  regard  our  perfect 
union  as  the  rock  of  our  political  salvation."  f 

After  some  debate,  John  Marshall  of  Richmond,  conced- 
ing the  point  as  to  "  leaving  the  door  open  for  amendments,"  "H^ 
pleaded  that  the  legislature  should  not  seem  to  disapprove  the 
new  federal  government,  and,  for  the  form  of  the  resolution, 
proposed  that  "  the  new  constitution  should  be  laid  before  the 
convention  for  their  free  and  ample  discussion."  *•"  This  form 
was  silently  accepted  by  Henry,  while  Mason  declared  "that 
the  house  had  no  right  to  suggest  anything  to  a  body  para- 
mount to  itself."  The  vote  was  unanimous,  the  form  of  the 
resolution  being  that  of  Marshall,  while  in  substance  it  yielded 
up  all  that  Henry  and  Mason  required.  [  From  "  unfriendly 
intentions  toward  the  constitution,"  ^  the  choice  of  the  conven- 
tion was  postponed  till  the  court  days  in  March,  and  its  time  of 
meeting  to  the  first  Monday  in  June.  Should  many  of  the 
states  then  be  found  against  the  constitution,  Yirginia  could 
assume  the  office  of  mediator  between  contending  parties,  and 
dictate  to  all  the  rest  of  the  union.  () 

*  Bushrod  Washington  to  G.  W.,  19  October  ITST.     Sparks,  ix.,  273. 
f  Report  of  Debate  in  Packet,  10  November  1*787. 

X  Madison,  i.,  .^68,  364. 

*  Report  of  the  Debate  from  Penn.  Packet,  10  Norember  17S7. 

II  Compare  George  Mason  to  G.  ^Y.,  6  November  1787,  in  Letters  to  G.  W.,  iv., 
190.  Report  of  Debates  in  Penn.  Packet,  10  November  1787.  Buh;hrod  Wash- 
ington in  Sparks,  ix,,  287. 

^Edward  CarHngton  to  T,  Jefferson,  10  November  1787.  Bushrod  Wash- 
ington was  inexperienced,  and  at  first  judged  the  disposition  of  the  legislature  too 
favorably ;  Carrington  had  keener-eyed  correspondents. 

^  Monroe  to  Madison,  7  February  1788.     Carrington  to  Madison,  18  January 


1787.  THE   COI^STITUTION  IN  VIRGINIA.  379 

Since  amendments  liad  been  unanimously  authorized,  it 
seemed  fair  that  any  expense  of  an  attempt  to  make  them 
should  be  provided  for  with  the  other  charges  of  the  conven- 
tion.* A  letter  from  Richard  Henry  Lee,  a  representative 
from  Yirginia  in  congress,  to  the  governor  of  the  common- 
wealth, recommended,  as  a  policy  open  to  "  no  objection  and 
promising  great  safety  and  mucli  good,"  f  that  amendments 
adopted  severally  by  the  states  should  all  be  definitively  re- 
ferred to  a  second  federal  convention. 

To  carry  out  this  policy,  resolutions  were  on  the  last  day  of 
IN'ovember  introduced  into  the  house,  and  supported  by  Henry 
and  Mason,  pledging  the  general  assembly  to  defray  the  ex- 
pense of  a  deputy  or  deputies  which  the  convention  of  the 
commonwealth  in  the  following  June  might  think  proper  to 
send  to  confer  with  a  convention  of  any  one  or  more  of  the 
sister  states,  "  as  well  as  the  allowance  to  be  made  to  the  depu- 
ties to  a  federal  convention,  in  case  such  a  convention  should 
be  judged  necessary."  The  friends  of  the  constitution,  who 
now  perceived  the  direction  in  which  they  were  drifting,  made 
a  rally ;  but  they  were  beaten  by  a  majority  of  about  fifteen. 
A  bill  pursuant  to  the  resolutions,  reported  by  a  committee 
composed  mainly  of  the  most  determined  "  malcontents,"  soon 
became  a  law.  j^  Friends  of  the  constitution  who  had  been 
jubilant  at  the  first  aspect  of  the  legislature  now  doubted 
whether  it  any  longer  had  a  majority  in  its  favor ;  its  enemies 
claimed  a  decisive  victory.  Early  in  December,  Monroe  re- 
ported to  Madison :  "  The  cloud  which  hath  hung  over  us  for 
some  time  past  is  not  likely  soon  to  be  dispelled."  * 

But  on  Washington's  mind  no  cloud  rested.  On  the  last 
day  of  November  he  had  replied  to  David  Stuart  of  his  own 
state :  "  I  am  sorry  to  find  by  your  favor  that  the  opposition 
gains  strength.  If  there  are  characters  who  prefer  disunion 
or  separate  confederacies  to  the  general  government  which  is 
offered  to  them,  their  opposition  may,  for  aught  I  know,  pro- 
ceed from  principle  ;  but  as  nothing,  according  to  my  concep- 
tion of  the  matter,  is  more  to  be  deprecated  than  a  disunion  or 

1788.  Washington  to  Carter,  14  December  1787,  in  Penn.  Packet  of  11  January 
1788.  *  Sparks,  ix.,  287.  f  Lee's  Life,  ii.,  81 ;  Elliot,  i.,  505. 

X  Hening,  xii.,  462.  *  Monroe  to  Madison,  6  December.     MS 


380       THE   STATES  EATIFY  THE   OONSTITUTIO]!^.  b.iv.;ch.i. 

three  distinct  confederacies,  as  far  as  my  voice  can  go  it  shall 
be  offered  in  favor  of  the  general  government."  * 

l^OT  did  he  lose  heart  or  trust ;  on  the  fourteenth  of  De- 
cember, in  a  letter  which  soon  reached  the  people  of  Virginia 
through  the  newspapers,  he  wrote  to  Charles  Carter  of  Freder- 
icksburg :  "  I  am  pleased  that  the  proceedings  of  the  conven- 
tion have  met  your  approbation.  My  decided  opinion  on  the 
matter  is  that  there  is  no  alternative  between  the  adoption  of 
it  and  anarchy.  If  one  state,  however  important  it  may  con- 
ceive itself  to  be,"  and  here  he  meant  Yirginia,  "  or  a  minority 
of  them,"  meaning  the  five  southernmost  states,  "  should  sup- 
pose that  they  can  dictate  a  constitution  to  the  union,  unless 
they  have  the  power  of  applying  the  ultima  ratio  to  good 
effect,  they  will  find  themselves  deceived.  All  the  opposition 
to  it  that  I  have  yet  seen  is  addressed  more  to  the  passions 
than  to  reason ;  and  clear  I  am,  if  another  federal  convention 
is  attempted,  that  the  sentiments  of  the  members  will  be  more 
discordant  or  less  accommodating  than  the  last.  In  fine,  they 
will  agree  upon  no  general  plan.  General  government  is  now 
suspended  by  a  thread ;  I  might  go  further,  and  say  it  is  really 
at  an  end ;  and  what  mil  be  the  consequence  of  a  fruitless  at- 
tempt to  amend  the  one  which  is  offered  before  it  is  tried,  or 
of  the  delay  of  the  attempt,  does  not  in  my  j^udgment  need  the 
gift  of  prophecy  to  predict. 

"  I  saw  the  imperfections  of  the  constitution  I  aided  in  the 
birth  of  before  it  was  handed  to  the  public ;  but  I  am  fully 
persuaded  it  is  the  best  that  can  be  obtained  at  this  time,  that 
it  is  free  from  many  of  the  imperfections  with  which  it  is 
charged,  and  that  it  or  disunion  is  before  us  to  choose  from. 
If  the  first  is  our  election,  when  the  defects  of  it  are  experi- 
enced, a  constitutional  door  is  opened  for  amendments  and  may 
be  adopted  in  a  peaceable  manner,  without  tumult  or  disor- 
der." f  But  as  Yirginia  has  delayed  her  convention  till  June, 
our  narrative  must  turn  to  the  states  which  were  the  first  to 
meet  in  convention. 

*  In  Sparks,  ix.,  284,  for  "  these  distinct  confederacies  "  read  "  three  distinct 
confederacies." 

f  Washington  to  Charles  Carter,  14  December  1787,  in  Penn.  Packet  of  11 
January  1788.   The  original  draft  of  the  letter  is  preserved  in  the  State  Department. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA.  381 


CHAPTEE  II. 

the  constitution  in  pennsylvania,  delaware,  and  new 
jersey  ;  and  in  georgia. 

From  18  September  1787  to  2  January  1788. 

Our  liappy  theme  leads  from  one  great  act  of  universal  in- 
terest to  another.  A  new  era  in  the  life  of  the  race  begins :  a 
people  select  their  delegates  to  state  conventions  to  pronounce 
their  judgment  on  the  creation  of  a  federal  republic. 

One  more  great  duty  to  his  fellow-citizens  and  to  mankind 
is  to  be  fulfilled  by  Franklin ;  one  more  honor  to  be  won  by 
Philadelphia  as  the  home  of  union  ;  one  new  victory  by  Penn- 
sylvania as  the  citadel  of  the  love  of  the  one  indivisible  coun- 
try. That  mighty  border  commonwealth,  extending  its  line 
from  Delaware  bay  to  the  Ohio,  and  holding  convenient  passes 
through  the  Alleghanies,  would  not  abandon  the  South,  nor 
the  West,  nor  the  North ;  she  would  not  hear  of  triple  confed- 
eracies nor  of  twin  confederacies ;  but  only  of  one  government 
embracing  all.  Its  people  in  their  multifarious  congruity  had 
nothing  adverse  to  union  ;  the  faithful  of  the  proprietary  party 
were  zealous  for  a  true  general  government ;  so  too  was  every 
man  in  public  life  of  the  people  called  Quakers ;  *  so  was  an 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  Germans ;  f  so  were  the  Bap- 
tists, as  indeed  their  synod  authoritatively  avowed  for  every 
state.  The  perfect  liberty  of  conscience  prevented  religious 
differences  from  interfering  with  zeal  for  a  closer  union. 

In  the  first  period  of  the  confederacy  the  inhabitants  of 
Philadelphia  did  not  extend  their  plans  for  its  reform  beyond 
the  increase  of  its  powers,  but,  after  the  flight  of  congress 

r  Independent  Gazetteer,  15  January  1788.  f  Independent  Gazetteer. 


382      THE   STATES   EATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTIOK  b.  iv.  ;  oh.  ii. 

from  their  city,  tliej  began  to  say  to  one  another  that  "  it 
would  be  more  easy  to  build  a  new  ship  of  state  than  to  repair 
the  old  one ; "  that  there  was  need  of  a  new  constitution  with 
a  legislature  in  two  branches.  Merchants,  bankers,  holders  of 
the  national  debt,  the  army  officers,  found  no  party  organized 
against  this  opinion ;  Dickinson  was  magnanimous  enough  to 
become  dissatisfied  with  the  confederation  which  he  had  chiefly 
assisted  to  frame ;  and  he  and  Mifflin  and  McKean  and  George 
Clymer  and  Rush  manifested  no  opposition  to  the  policy  of 
Wilson,  Eobert  Morris,  Gouverneur  Morris,  and  Fitzsimons ; 
although  remoter  counties,  and  especially  the  backwoodsmen 
on  each  side  of  the  mountains,  loved  their  wild  personal  lib- 
erty too  dearly  to  welcome  a  new  supreme  control. 

At  eleven  in  the  morning  of  the  eighteenth,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  then  president  of  Pennsylvania,  more  than  fourscore 
years  of  age,  fulfilling  his  last  great  public  service,  was  ushered 
into  the  hall  of  the  assembly,  followed  by  his  seven  colleagues 
of  the  convention.  After  expressing  in  a  short  address  their 
iiope  and  belief  that  the  measure  recommended  by  that  body 
would  produce  happy  effects  to  the  commonwealth  of  Pennsyl- 
vania as  well  as  to  every  other  of  the  United  States,  he  pre- 
sented the  constitution  and  accompanying  papers. 

For  the  next  ten  days  the  house,  not  willing  to  forestall  the 
action  of  congress,  confined  itself  to  its  usual  business ;  but  as 
it  had  resolved  to  adjourn  si7ie  die  on  Saturday,  the  twenty- 
ninth,  Clymer,  on  the  morning  of  the  last  day  but  one  of  the 
session,  proposed  to  refer  the  acts  of  the  federal  convention  to 
a  convention  of  the  state.  That  there  might  be  time  for  re- 
flection, Robert  Whitehill  of  Carlisle,  on  behalf  of  the  minor- 
ity, requested  the  postponement  of  the  question  at  least  until 
the  afternoon.  This  was  conceded ;  but  in  the  afternoon  the 
minority,  nineteen  in  number,  did  not  attend,  and  refused  to 
obey  the  summons  of  the  speaker  delivered  by  the  sergeant-at- 
arms,  so  that  no  quorum  could  be  made.  This  factious  seces- 
sion so  enraged  the  inhabitants  that  early  the  next  morning  a 
body  of  "  respectable  men  "  made  a  search  for  the  delinquents ; 
and  finding  two  of  them,  just  sufficient  to  form  a  house,  dragged 
them  into  the  assembly,  where,  in  spite  of  their  protests,  they 
were  compelled  to  stay.     Meantime  a  fleet  messenger,  sent 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA.  383 

from  New  York  by  William  Bingham,  a  delegate  in  congress 
from  Pennsylvania,  arrived  with  an  authentic  co2)y  of  a  resolu- 
tion of  congress  of  the  preceding  day,  unanimously  recom- 
mending the  reference  of  the  constitution  to  conventions  of 
the  several  states ;  and  within  twenty  hours  *  from  the  adop- 
tion of  the  resolution,  the  Pennsylvania  assembly  called  a  con- 
vention of  the  state  for  the  third  Tuesday  in  JSTovember.f 
The  vote  was  received  by  the  spectators  with  three  heartfelt 
cheers ;  the  bells  of  the  churches  were  rung ;  and  signs  of 
faith  in  the  speedy  return  of  prosperity  were  everywhere  seen. 
But  the  minority,  trained  in  resistance  to  what  were  thought 
to  be  aristocratic  influences,  refused  to  be  reconciled,  and  be- 
came the  seed  of  a  permanent  national  party. 

Pichard  Henry  Lee  had  disseminated  in  Philadelphia  the 
objections  of  himself  and  George  Mason  to  the  constitution ; 
and  seventeen  of  the  seceding  members  imbodied  them  in  an 
appeal  to  their  constituents.  :f  But  the  cause  of  the  inflamma- 
tion in  Pennsylvania  was  much  more  in  their  state  factions 
than  in  the  new  federal  system.* 

The  efforts  of  Pichard  Henry  Lee  were  counteracted  in 
Philadelphia  by  Wilson,  whom  Washington  at  the  time  called 
^'  as  able,  candid,  and  honest  a  member  as  was  in  the  conven- 
tion." On  the  sixth  of  October,  at  a  great  meeting  in  Phila- 
delphia, he  held  up  the  constitution  as  the  best  w^hich  the 
world  had  as  yet  seen.  To  the  objection  derived  from  its  want 
of  a  bill  of  rights,  he  explained  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  was  a  limited  government,  which  had  no  powers 
except  those  which  were  specially  granted  to  it.  The  speech 
was  promptly  reprinted  in  ]^ew  York  as  a  reply  to  the  insinu- 
ations of  Lee ;  and  through  the  agency  of  Washington  it  was 
republished  in  Pichmond.  ||  But  the  explanation  of  the  want 
of  a  bill  of  rights  satisfied  not  one  state. 

Great  enthusiasm  was  awakened  among  the  jDeople  of  Penn- 

*  Carey's  Museum,  vol.  ii.,  Chronicle,  pp.  6,  7. 

\  Lloyd's  Debates  of  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  p.  137.  P.  Bond  to  Lord  Car- 
marthen, Philadelphia,  29  September  1787. 

X  Washington  to  Madison,  10  October  1787,  in  Letter  Book  at  State  Depart- 
ment. 

*  Madison  to  Jefferson,  19  February  17S8,  in  Madison,  i.,  377. 
II  Sparks,  ix.,  271. 


384:     THE   STATES  RATIFY   THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  en.  ii. 

sylvania  in  tlie  progress  of  the  election  of  their  delegates ;  thej 
rejoiced  at  the  near  consummation  of  their  hopes.  The  con- 
vention was  called  to  meet  on  Tuesday,  the  twentieth  of  No- 
vember ;  a  quorum  appeared  on  the  next  day.  Before  the 
week  was  over  the  constitution  on  two  successive  days  received 
its  first  and  second  reading.  Its  friends,  who  formed  a  very 
large  and  resolute  majority,  were  intensely  in  earnest,  and 
would  not  brook  procrastination. 

On  Saturday,  the  twenty-fourth,*  Thomas  McKean  of  Phi- 
ladelphia, seconded  by  John  Allison  of  Franklin  county,  offered 
the  resolution  in  favor  of  ratifying  the  constitution  ;  and  Wil- 
son, as  the  only  one  present  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
federal  convention,  opened  the  debate  : 

"  The  United  States  exliibit  to  the  world  the  first  instance 
of  a  nation  unattacked  by  external  force,  unconvulsed  by  do- 
mestic insurrections,  assembling  voluntarily,  deliberating  fully, 
and  deciding  calmly  concerning  that  system  of  government 
under  which  they  and  their  posterity  should  live.  To  form  a 
good  system  of  government  for  a  single  city  or  an  inconsidera- 
ble state  has  been  thought  to  require  the  strongest  efforts  of 
human  genius ;  the  views  of  the  convention  were  expanded  to 
a  large  portion  of  the  globe. 

''  The  difficulty  of  the  business  was  equal  to  its  magnitude. 
The  United  States  contain  already  thirteen  governments  mu- 
tually independent ;  their  soil,  climates,  productions,  dimen- 
sions, and  numbers  are  different ;  in  many  instances  a  differ- 
ence and  even  an  opposition  subsists  among  their  interests, 
and  is  imagined  to  subsist  in  many  more.  Mutual  concessions 
and  sacrifices,  the  consequences  of  mutual  forbearance  and  con- 
ciliation, were  indispensably  necessary  to  the  success  of  the 
great  work. 

"  The  United  States  may  adopt  any  one  of  four  different 
systems.  They  may  become  consolidated  into  one  government 
in  which  the  separate  existence  of  the  states  shall  be  entirely 
absolved.  They  may  reject  any  plan  of  union  and  act  as  un- 
connected states.     They  may  form  two  or  more  confederacies. 

*  Correct  the  date  in  Elliot,  ii.,  417,  by  Independent  Gazette  of  29  November 
I'lSI.  Especially,  Centinel  in  the  same,  4  December.  Mr.  W.  [Wilson]  in  a 
speech  on  Saturday,  24  instant,  Pa.  Packet  of  27  November. 


1787.  THE  COIsrSTITUTION'  m  PEN"NSYLYANIA.  385 

They  may  unite  in  one  federal  republic.  I^eitlier  of  tliese 
systems  found  advocates  in  tlie  late  convention.  The  remain- 
ing system  is  a  union  in  one  confederate  republic* 

"  The  expanding  quality  of  a  government  by  which  several 
states  agree  to  become  an  assemblage  of  societies  that  consti- 
tute a  new  society,  capable  of  increasing  by  means  of  further 
association,  is  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  United  States.  But  this 
form  of  government  left  us  almost  without  precedent  or  guide. 
Ancient  history  discloses,  and  barely  discloses,  to  our  view 
some  confederate  republics.  The  Swiss  cantons  are  connected 
only  by  alliances  ;  the  United  JSTetherlands  constitute  no  new 
society  ;  from  the  Germanic  body  little  useful  knowledge  can 
be  drawn. 

"  Since  states  as  well  as  citizens  are  represented  in  the  con- 
stitution before  us,  and  form  the  objects  on  which  that  consti- 
tution is  proposed  to  operate,  it  is  necessary  to  mention  a  kind 
of  liberty  which  has  not  yet  received  a  name.  I  shall  distin- 
guish it  by  the  appellation  of  federal  liberty.  The  states  should 
resign  to  the  national  government  that  part,  and  that  part  only^^ 
of  their  political  liberty  which,  placed  in  that  government^ 
will  produce  more  good  to  the  whole  than  if  it  had  remained 
in  the  several  states.  While  they  resign  this  part  of  their  po- 
litical liberty,  they  retain  the  free  and  generous  exercise  of  all 
their  other  faculties,  so  far  as  it  is  compatible  with  the  weKare 
of  the  general  and  superintending  confederacy. 

"  The  powers  of  the  federal  government  and  those  of  the 
state  governments  are  drawn  from  sources  equally  pure.  The 
principle  of  representation,  unknown  to  the  ancients,  is  con- 
fined to  a  narrow  comer  of  the  British  constitution.  For  the 
American  states  were  reserved  the  glory  and  happiness  of  dif- 
fusing this  vital  principle  throughout  the  constituent  parts  of 
government. 

"  The  convention  found  themselves  embarrassed  with 
another  difficulty  of  pecuhar  delicacy  and  importance ;  I  mean 
that  of  drawing  a  proper  line  between  the  national  government 
and  the  governments  of  the  several  states.  Whatever  object 
of  government  is  confined  in  its  operation  and  eSects  within 
the  bounds  of  a  particular  state  should  be  considered  as  belong- 

*  Elliot,  li.,  427,  428. 
VOL.   YI. — 25 


386      THE   STATES  RATIFY  THE   COI^STITUTION.  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  ii. 

ing  to  the  goyernment  of  that  state ;  whatever  object  of  gov- 
ernment extends  in  its  operation  or  effects  beyond  the  bound? 
of  a  particular  state  should  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the 
government  of  the  United  States.  To  remove  discretionary 
construction,  the  enumeration  of  particular  instances  in  which 
the  application  of  the  principle  ought  to  take  place  will  be 
found  to  be  safe,  unexceptionable,  and  accurate. 

"  To  control  the  power  and  conduct  of  the  legislature  by 
an  overruling  constitution  limiting  and  superintending  the  op- 
erations of  legislative  authority  was  an  improvement  in  the 
science  and  practice  of  government  reserved  to  the  American 
states.  Oft  have  I  marked  with  silent  pleasure  and  admiration 
the  force  and  prevalence  through  the  United  States  of  the 
principle  that  the  supreme  power  resides  in  the  people,  and 
that  they  never  part  with  it.  There  can  be  no  disorder  in  the 
community  but  may  here  receive  a  radical  cure.  Error  in  the 
legislature  may  be  corrected  by  the  constitution  ;  error  in 
the  constitution,  by  the  people.  The  streams  of  power  run 
in  different  directions,  but  they  all  originally  flow  from  one 
abundant  fountain.  In  this  constitution  all  authority  is  de- 
rived from  the  people." 

Already  much  had  been  gained  for  the  friends  of  the  con- 
stitution. "I  am  sensible,"  said  John  Smilie  of  Fayette 
county,  "  of  the  expediency  of  giving  additional  strength  and 
energy  to  the  federal  head."  The  question  became  on  the 
one  side  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  as  it  came  from  the 
convention ;  on  the  other,  with  amendments.  Smilie  spoke 
against  a  system  of  precipitancy  which  would  preclude  deliber- 
ation on  questions  of  the  highest  consequence  to  the  happiness 
of  a  great  portion  of  the  globe.  "  Is  the  object,"  he  asked, 
"  to  bring  on  a  hasty  and  total  adoption  of  the  constitution  ? 
The  most  common  business  of  a  legislative  body  is  submitted 
to  repeated  discussion  upon  different  days."  Robert  "White- 
hill  of  Carlisle,  in  Cumberland  county,  fearing  a  conveyance  to 
the  federal  government  of  rights  and  liberties  which  the  peo- 
ple ought  never  to  surrender,  asked  a  reference  to  a  committee 
of  the  whole.  He  was  defeated  on  the  twenty-sixth,  by  a  vote 
of  forty-three  to  twenty-four  ;  but  each  member  obtained  leave 
to  speak  in  the  house  as  often  as  he  pleased.     When  it  was  ob- 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA.  387 

served  that  the  federal  convention  had  exceeded  the  powers 
given  to  them  by  their  respective  legislatures,  Wilson  an- 
swered :  "  The  federal  convention  did  not  proceed  at  all  upon 
the  powers  given  to  them  by  the  states,  but  upon  original 
principles ;  and  having  framed  a  constitution  which  they 
thought  would  promote  the  happiness  of  their  country,  they 
have  submitted  it  to  their  consideration,  who  may  either  adopt 
or  reject  it  as  they  please."  * 

On  the  twenty-seventh,  Whitehill,  acting  in  concert  with 
the  Virginia  opposition  and  preparing  the  way  for  entering  on 
the  journals  a  final  protest  against  the  proceedings  of  the  ma- 
jority, proposed  that  upon  all  questions  where  the  yeas  and 
nays  were  called  any  member  might  insert  the  reason  of  his 
vote  upon  the  journal  of  the  convention.  This  was  argued 
all  the  day  long,  and  leave  was  refused  by  a  very  large  ma- 
jority.! 

The  fiercest  day's  debate,  and  the  only  one  where  the  de- 
cision of  *the  country  was  finally  in  favor  of  the  minority,  took 
place  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  N^ovember.  There  was  a  rising 
discontent  at  the  omission  of  a  declaration  of  rights.  To  prove 
that  there  was  no  need  of  a  bill  of  rights,  Wilson  said  :  "  The 
boasted  Magna  Charta  of  England  derives  the  liberties  of  the 
inhabitants  of  that  kingdom  from  the  gift  and  grant  of  the 
king,  and  no  wonder  the  people  were  anxious  to  obtain  bills  of 
rights  ;  but  here  the  fee  simple  remains  in  the  people  ;  and  by 
this  constitution  they  do  not  part  with  it.  The  preamble  to 
the  proposed  constitution, '  We  the  people  of  the  United  States 
do  establish,'  contains  the  essence  of  all  the  bills  of  rights  that 
have  been  or  can  be  devised."  :j:  The  defence  was  imperfect 
both  in  sentiment  and  in  public  law.  To  the  sentiment,  Smilie 
answered :  "  The  words  in  the  preamble  of  the  proposed  sys- 
tem, however  superior  they  may  be  to  the  terms  of  the  great 
charter  of  England,  must  yield  to  the  expressions  in  the  Penn- 
sylvania bill  of  rights  and  the  memorable  declaration  of  the 
fourth  of  July  1776."  As  a  question  of  public  law,  the  an- 
swer of  Smilie  was  equally  conclusive  :  "  It  is  not  enough  to 

*  Independent  Gazetteer,  29  Xovembor  1*787. 

f  Independent  Gazetteer  for  3  December;  and  especially  for  1  December  1787. 

X  Elliot's  Debates,  ii.,  434-439. 


388      THE  STATES  RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION.  b.iv.;ch.ii. 

reserve  to  the  people  a  right  to  alter  and  abolish  government, 
but  some  criterion  should  be  established  by  which  it  can  easily 
and  constitutionally  ascertain  how  far  the  government  may 
proceed  and  when  it  transgresses  its  jurisdiction."  "  A  bill  of 
rights,"  interposed  McKean,  "  though  it  can  do  no  harm,  is  an 
unnecessary  instrument.  The  constitutions  of  but  live  out  of 
the  thirteen  United  States  have  bills  of  rights."  The  speaker 
was  ill  informed.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  had  alone  de- 
clined the  opportunity  of  establishing  a  bill  of  rights ;  every 
state  to  the  north  of  them  had  one  except  Ehode  Island  and 
Connecticut,  which  as  yet  adhered  to  their  original  charters, 
and  'New  Jersey,  which  still  adhered  to  its  government  as  es- 
tablished just  before  the  declaration  of  independence.  New 
York  had  incorporated  into  its  constitution  the  whole  of  that 
declaration. 

Wilson  asserted  that  in  the  late  convention  the  desire  of 
''  a  bill  of  rights  had  never  assumed  the  shaj^e  of  a  motion." 
Here  his  memory  was  at  fault ;  but  no  one  present  could  cor- 
rect him.  "  In  civil  governments,"  he  proceeded,  ''  bills  of 
rights  are  useless,  nor  can  I  conceive  whence  the  contrary  no- 
tion has  arisen.  Virginia  has  no  bill  of  rights."  Smilie  inter- 
rupted him  to  cite  the  assurance  of  George  Mason  himself  that 
Virginia  had  a  bill  of  rights ;  and  he  repeated  the  remark  that 
Mason  *  had  made  in  the  convention  :  "  The  laws  of  the  gen- 
eral government  are  paramount  to  the  laws  and  constitutions 
of  the  several  states ;  and  as  there  is  no  declaration  of  rights 
in  the  new  constitution,  the  declarations  of  rights  in  the  con- 
stitutions of  the  several  states  are  no  security.  Every  stipula- 
tion for  the  most  sacred  and  invaluable  privileges  of  man  is 
left  at  the  mercy  of  government."  f 

On  Saturday,  the  first  of  December,  William  Findley,  the 
third  leading  member  of  the  opposition,  in  a  long  and  elabo- 
rate argument  endeavored  to  prove  that  the  proposed  plan  of 
government  was  not  a  confederation  of  states,  but  a  consolida- 
tion of  government.  He  insisted  that  the  constitution  formed 
a  contract  between  indi\dduals  entering  into   society,  not  a 

*  Gilpin,  1566;  Elliot,  538. 

f  Independent  Gazetteer,  December  10,  13,  18,  20,  24,  27.     Review  of  the 
Constitutions  by  De  La  Croix,  English  translation,  ii.,  386,  note. 


178T.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  DELAWARE.  380 

union  of  independent  states ;  that  in  the  legislature  it  estab- 
lished the  vote  by  individuals,  not  by  states ;  that  between  two 
parties  in  the  same  community,  each  claiming  independent 
sovereignty,  it  granted  an  unlimited  right  of  internal  taxation 
to  the  federal  body,  whose  stronger  will  would  thus  be  able  to 
annihilate  the  power  of  its  weaker  rival ;  that  it  conceded  a 
right  to  regulate  and  judge  of  elections ;  that  it  extended  the 
judicial  power  as  widely  as  the  legislative ;  that  it  raised  the 
members  of  congress  above  their  states,  for  they  were  paid  not 
by  the  states  as  subordinate  delegates,  but  by  the  general  gov- 
ernment ;  and  finally,  that  it  required  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  federal  government,  and  thus  made  the  allegiance  to  a 
separate  sovereign  state  an  absurdity.^' 

Meantime  the  zeal  of  the  majority  was  quickened  by  news 
from  "  the  Delaware  state,"  whose  people  were  for  the  most 
part  of  the  same  stock  as  the  settlers  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had 
groAvn  up  under  the  same  proprietary.  On  the  proposal  for 
the  federal  convention  at  Philadelphia,  its  general  assembly 
declared  that  "  they  had  long  been  fully  convinced  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  revising  the  federal  constitution,"  "being  wilhng 
and  desirous  of  co-operating  with  the  commonwealth  of  Vir- 
ginia and  the  other  states  in  the  confederation."  f  Now  that 
an  equality  of  vote  in  the  senate  had  been  conceded,  the  one 
single  element  of .  opposition  disappeared.  The  legislature  of 
Delaware  met  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  October,  and  follow- 
ing "  the  sense  and  desire  of  great  numbers  of  the  people  of 
the  state,  signified  in  petitions  to  their  general  assembly," 
"  adopted  speedy  measures  to  call  together  a  convention."  :j: 

The  constituent  body,  which  met  at  Dover  in  the  first  week 
of  December,  encountered  no  difficulty  but  how  to  find  lan- 
guage strong  enough  to  express  their  joy  in  what  had  been  done. 
On  the  sixth  "the  deputies  of  the  people  of  the  Delaware 
state  fully,  freely,  and  entirely  approved  of,  assented  to,  rati- 
fied, and  confirmed  the  federal  constitution,"  to  which  they 
all  on  the  next  day  subscribed  their  names.* 

*  Independent  Gazetteer,  6  December,  1*787. 

f  Laws  of  Delaware,  page  892,  in  edition  of  1797. 
:j:  Packet,  17  November  1787. 

*  Journals  of  Congress,  iv.     Appendix,  46. 


390      THE   STATES   RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION.  b.iv.;ch.ii. 

When  it  became  known  tliat  Delaware  was  leading  the 
way  at  the  head  of  the  grand  procession  of  the  thirteen  states, 
McKean,  on  Monday,  the  tenth  of  December,  announced  to 
the  Pennsylvania  convention  that  he  should  on  the  twelfth 
press  the  vote  for  ratification. 

On  the  next  day  Wilson  summed  up  his  defence  of  the  con- 
stitution, and  repeated :  "  This  system  is  not  a  compact ;  I 
cannot  discern  the  least  trace  of  a  compact ;  the  introduction 
to  the  work  is  not  an  unmeaning  flourish ;  the  system  itself 
tells  you  what  it  is,  an  ordinance,  an  establishment  of  the  ]3eo- 
ple."  *  The  opposition  followed  the  Hne  of  conduct  marked 
out  by  the  opposition  in  Virginia.  On  the  twelfth,  before  the 
question  for  ratification  was  taken,  Whitehill  presented  peti- 
tions from  seven  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants  of  Cumberland 
county  against  adopting  the  constitution  without  amendments, 
and  particularly  without  a  bill  of  rights  to  secure  liberty  in 
matters  of  religion,  trial  by  jury,  the  freedom  of  the  press,  the 
sole  power  in  the  individual  states  to  organize  the  militia ;  the 
repeal  of  the  executive  power  of  the  senate,  and  consequent 
appointment  of  a  constitutional  council ;  a  prohibition  of  re- 
pealing or  modifying  laws  of  the  United  States  by  treaties ; 
restrictions  on  the  federal  judiciary  power;  a  confirmation  to 
the  several  states  of  their  sovereignty,  with  every  power,  juris- 
diction, and  right  not  expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States 
in  congress  assembled.  In  laboring  for  this  end,  he  showed  a 
concert  with  the  measure  which  Mason  and  Randolph  liad  pro- 
posed in  the  federal  convention  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  in 
congress,  and  which  led  the  Virginia  legislature  on  that  very 
day  to  pass  the  act  for  communicating  with  sister  states,  f 

The  amendments  which  Whitehill  proposed  were  not  suf- 
fered to  be  entered  in  the  journal.  His  motion  was  rejected 
by  forty-six  to  twenty-three;  and  then  the  new  constitution 
was  ratified  by  the  same  majority. 

On  Thursday  the  convention  marched  in  a  procession  to  the 
court-house,  where  it  proclaimed  the  ratification.  Returning 
to  the  place  of  meeting,  the  forty-six  subscribed  their  names 
to  their  act.  The  opposition  were  invited  to  add  their  names 
as  a  fair  and  honorable  acquiescence  in  the  principle  that  the 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  497,  499.  f  Hening,  xii.,  463. 


1787.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  NEW  JERSEY.  391 

majority  should  govern.  John  Harris  refused,  yet  held  himself 
bound  by  the  decision  of  the  majority.  Smilie  answered: 
"  My  hand  shall  never  give  the  lie  to  my  heart  and  tongue." 
Twenty-one  of  the  minority  signed  an  exceedingly  long  address 
to  their  constituents,  complaining  that  the  extent  of  the  country 
did  not  admit  of  the  proposed  form  of  government  without 
danger  to  liberty;  and  that  the  powers  vested  in  congress 
would  lead  to  an  iron-handed  despotism,  with  unlimited  con- 
trol of  the  purse  and  tlie  sword. 

The  ratification  gave  unbounded  satisfaction  to  all  Penn-" 
sylvania  east  of  the  Susquehanna ;  beyond  that  river  loud  mur- 
murs were  mingled  with  threats  of  resistance  in  arms.  On 
the  fifteenth  the  convention  dissolved  itself,  after  offering  a 
permanent  and  a  temporary  seat  of  government  to  the  United 
States. 

The  population  of  'New  Jersey  at  that  time  was  almost  ex- 
clusively rural ;  in  the  west  chiefly  the  descendants  of  Quak- 
ers, in  the  east  of  Dutch  and  Scottish  Calvinists.  This  in- 
dustrious, frugal,  and  pious  people,  little  agitated  by  political 
disputes,  received  the  federal  constitution  with  joy,  and  the 
consciousness  that  its  ow^n  sons  had  contributed  essentially  to 
its  formation.* 

On  the  twenty-sixth  of  October  its  legislature  called  a  state 
convention  by  a  unanimous  vote.  On  the  eleventh  of  Decem- 
ber the  convention  of  New  Jersey,  composed  of  accomplished 
civilians,  able  judges,  experienced  generals,  and  fair-minded, 
intelligent  husbandmen,  assembled  in  Trenton.  The  next  day 
was  spent  in  organizing  the  house,  all  the  elected  members 
being  present  save  one.  John  Stevens  was  chosen  president 
by  ballot ;  Samuel  Whitham  Stockton,  secretary.  The  morn- 
ing began  with  prayer.  Then  with  open  doors  the  convention 
proceeded  to  read  the  federal  constitution  by  sections,  giving 
opportunity  for  debates  and  for  votes  if  called  for ;  and,  after 
a  week's  deliberation,  on  Tuesday,  the  eighteenth,  determined 
unanimously  to  ratify  and  confirm  the  federal  constitution. 
A  committee,  on  which  appear  the  names  of  Brearley,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  federal  convention,  "Witherspoon,  Neilson,  Beatty, 
former  members  of  congress,  was  appointed  to  draw  up  the 

*  Penn.  Journal,  7  November  1'787. 


302      THE   STATES  EATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION-,  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  ii. 

form  of  the  ratification  ;  and  tlie  people  of  the  state  of  'New 
Jersey,  "  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  members  present, 
agreed  to,  ratified,  and  confirmed  the  proposed  constitution 
and  every  part  thereof."  * 

On  the  next  day,  the  resolve  for  ratification  having  been 
engrossed  in  duplicate  on  parchment,  one  copy  for  the  con- 
gress of  the  United  States  and  one  for  the  archives  of  the  state, 
every  member  of  the  convention  present  subscribed  his  name. 

In  the  shortest  possible  time,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and 
New  Jersey,  the  three  central  states,  one  by  a  majority  of  two 
thirds,  the  others  unanimously,  accepted  the  constitution. 

The  union  of  the  central  states  was  of  the  best  omen.  Be- 
fore knowing  their  decision,  Georgia  at  the  extreme  south  had 
independently  taken  its  part ;  its  legislature  chanced  to  be  in 
session  when  the  message  from  congress  arrived.  All  its  rela- 
tions to  the  United  States  were  favorable  ;  it  was  in  j^ossession 
of  a  territory  abounding  in  resources  and  large  enough  to  con- 
stitute an  empire ;  its  people  felt  the  need  of  protection  against 
Spain,  w^hich  ruled  along  their  southern  frontier  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic,  and  against  the  savages  who  dwelt 
in  their  forests  and  hung  on  the  borders  of  their  settlements. 
A  convention  which  was  promptly  called  met  on  Christmas- 
day,  with  power  to  adopt  or  reject  any  part  or  the  whole  of  the 
proposed  constitution.  Assembled  at  Augusta,  its  members 
finding  themselves  all  of  one  mind,  on  the  second  day  of  the 
new  year,  unanimously,  for  themselves  and  for  the  people  of 
Georgia,  fully  and  entirely  assented  to,  ratified,  and  adopted 
the  proposed  constitution.  They  hoped  that  their  ready  com- 
pliance would  "  tend  to  consolidate  the  union  "  and  "  promote 
the  happiness  of  the  common  country."  The  completing  of 
the  ratification  by  the  signing  of  the  last  name  was  announced 
by  a  salute  of  thirteen  guns  in  token  of  faith  that  every  state 
would  accede  to  the  new  bonds  of  union. f 

*  Penn.  Journal  and  Penn.  Packet,  22  and  29  December. 
•j-  Stevens,  History  of  Georgia,  ii.,  387. 


1787-1788.    THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  CONNECTICUT.  393 


CIIAPTEE  III. 

the  constitution  in  connecticut  and  massachusetts. 
Feom  26  September  1787  to  G  Febeuart  1788. 

On  the  twenty-sixtli  of  September  Eoger  Sliennan  and 
Oliver  Ellsworth,  two  of  the  delegates  from  Connecticut  to  the 
federal  convention,  transmitted  to  Samuel  Huntington,  then 
governor  of  the  state,  a  printed  copy  of  the  constitution  to  be 
laid  before  the  legislature.  In  an  accompanying  official  letter 
they  observed  that  the  proportion  of  suffrage  accorded  to  the 
state  remained  the  same  as  before ;  and  they  gave  the  assur- 
ance that  the  "  additional  powers  vested  in  congress  extended 
only  to  matters  respecting  the  common  interests  of  the  union, 
and  were  specially  defined;  so  that  the  particular  states  re- 
tained their  sovereignty  in  all  other  matters."  *  The  restraint 
on  the  legislatures  of  the  several  states  respecting  emitting  bills 
of  credit,  making  anything  but  money  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts,  or  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts  by  ex  jpost facto 
laws,  was  thought  necessary  as  a  security  to  commerce,  in  which 
the  interest  of  foreigners  as  wxll  as  of  the  citizens  of  different 
states  may  be  affected.f 

The  governor  was  a  zealous  friend  of  the  new  constitution. 
The  legislature,  on  the  sixteenth  of  October,  unanimously  :|: 
sailed  a  convention  of  the  state.  To  this  were  chosen  the  re- 
tired and  the  present  highest  officers  of  its  government ;  the 
judges  of  its  courts ;  "  ministers  of  the  Gospel ; "  and  nearly 
sixty  who  had  fought  for  independence.  Connecticut  had  a 
special  interest  in  ratifying  the  constitution ;  the  compromise 

*  Compare  the  remark  of  Wilson,  supra,  385,  386. 
t  Elliot,  i.,  491,  492.  ij:  Madison,  i.,  359. 


394    THE   STATES   EATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTIOK  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  hi. 

requiring  for  acts  of  legislation  a  majority  of  tlie  states  and  a 
majority  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  had  prevailed 
through  its  own  delegates. 

In  January  1788,  the  convention,  having  been  organized  in 
the  State-house  in  Hartford,  moved  immediately  to  the  North 
Meeting  House,  where,  in  the  presence  of  a  multitude,  the 
constitution  was  read  and  debated  section  by  section,  under  an 
agreement  that  no  vote  should  be  taken  till  the  whole  of  it 
should  have  been  considered.* 

On  the  fourth,  Oliver  Ellsworth  explained  the  necessity  of 
a  federal  government  for  the  national  defence,  for  the  manage- 
ment of  foreign  relations,  for  preserving  peace  between  the 
states,  for  giving  energy  to  the  public  administration.  He 
pointed  out  that  a  state  like  Connecticut  was  specially  benefited 
by  the  restraint  on  separate  states  from  collecting  duties  on  for- 
eign importations  made  through  their  more  convenient  harbors. 

Johnson  added :  While  under  the  confederation  states  in 
their  political  capacity  could  be  coerced  hy  nothing  but  a  mili- 
tary force ;  the  constitution  introduces  the  mild  and  equal 
energy  of  magistrates  for  the  execution  of  the  laws.  "  By  a 
signal  intervention  of  divine  providence,  a  convention  from 
states  differing  in  circumstances,  interests,  and  manners,  have 
harmoniously  adopted  one  grand  system ;  if  w^e  reject  it,  our 
national  existence  must  come  to  an  end."  f 

The  grave  and  weighty  men  who  listened  to  him  approved 
his  words  ;  but  when  tlie  paragraph  which  gave  to  the  general 
government  the  largest  powers  of  taxation  was  debated,  James 
"Wadsworth,  who  had  served  as  a  general  officer  in  the  war, 
objected  to  duties  on  imports  as  partial  to  the  southern  states. 
"  Connecticut,"  answered  Ellsworth,  "  is  a  manufacturing  state ; 
it  already  manufactures  its  implements  of  husbandry  and  half 
its  clothes."  Wadsworth  further  objected,  that  authority  which 
unites  the  power  of  the  sword  to  that  of  the  purse  is  despotic. 
Ellsworth  replied  :  "  The  general  legislature  ought  to  have  a 
revenue ;  and  it  ought  to  have  power  to  defend  the  state  against 
foreign  enemies ;  there  can  be  no  government  without  the 
power  of  the  purse  and  the  sword."  ''  So  w^ell  guarded  is  this 
constitution,"  observed  Oliver  Wolcott,  then  lieutenant-go v- 

*  Penn.  Packet  for  18  January  1788.        f  Penn.  Packet,  24  January  1788 


1787-1788.     THE   COJ^STITUTIOl!^  IN   CONNECTICUT.  395 

ernor,  "  it  seems  impossible  that  tlie  riglits  eitlier  of  tlie  states 
or  of  the  people  should  be  destroyed."  When  on  the  ninth 
the  vote  was  taken,  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  appeared 
for  the  constitution ;  forty  only  against  it.* 

The  people  received  with  delight  the  announcement  of  this 
great  majority  of  more  than  three  to  one ;  at  the  next  election 
the  "  wrong-headed  "  James  Wadsworth  was  left  out  of  the 
government ;  and  opposition  grew  more  and  more  faint  till  it 
wholly  died  away. 

The  country  from  the  St.  Croix  to  the  St.  Mary's  now  fixed 
its  attention  on  Massachusetts,  whose  adverse  decision  would  in- 
evitably involve  the  defeat  of  the  constitution.  The  rejDresen- 
tatives  of  that  great  state,  who  came  together  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  October,  had  been  chosen  under  the  influence  of  the 
recent  insurrection  ;  and  the  constitution,  had  it  been  submit- 
ted to  their  judgment,  would  have  been  rejected.f  In  com- 
municating it  to  the  general  court,  the  governor  most  wisely 
avoided  provoking  a  discussion  on  its  merits,  and  simply  recom- 
mended its  reference  to  a  convention  from  regard  to  the  worth 
of  its  authors  and  their  unanimity  on  questions  affecting  the 
prosperity  of  the  nation  and  the  complicated  rights  of  each 
separate  state.  :j: 

Following  his  recommendation  with  exactness,  the  senate, 
of  which  Samuel  Adams  was  president,  promptly  adopted  a 
resolve  to  refer  the  new  constitution  to  a  convention  of  the 
commonwealth.  On  motion  of  Theox^hilus  Parsons,  of  xTew- 
buryport,  a  lawyer  destined  to  attain  in  his  state  the  highest 
professional  honors,  the  resolve  of  the  senate  was  opened  in 
the  house.     Spectators  crowded   the  galleries  and  the  floor. 

*  Penn.  Packet,  24  January  1788. 

f  B.  Lincoln  to  Washington,  Boston,  19  March  1788. 

i  The  conduct  of  Hancock  in  support  of  the  constitution  vras  from  beginning 
to  end  consistent ;  and  so  wise  that  the  afterthought  of  the  most  skilful  caviller 
can  not  point  out  where  it  could  be  improved.  Nathaniel  Gorham,  who  had 
known  Hancock  lonp  and  well,  in  a  letter  to  Madison  of  27  January  1788,  the 
darkest  hour,  places  Hancock  and  Bowdoin  foremost  in  the  list  of  the  managers 
of  the  cause  of  the  constitution,  naming  them  with  equal  confidence.  Hancock, 
who  was  not  wanting  in  sagacity,  may  have  seen,  and  others  may  have  let  hira 
know  that  they  too  saw,  how  much  the  support  of  the  constitution  would  strengthen 
his  position  in  public  life :  but  at  that  time  he  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  rivalry 
of  Bowdoin,  who  had  definitively  retired. 


396    THE   STATES  RATIFY   THE   OONSTITUTIOK  b.  iv.  ;  en.  iii. 

Signs  of  a  warm  opposition  appeared ;  the  right  to  supersede 
the  old  confederation  was  denied  alike  to  the  convention  and 
to  the  people ;  the  adoption  of  a  new  constitution  by  but  nine 
of  the  thirteen  states  would  be  the  breach  of  a  still  valid  com- 
pact. An  inalienable  power,  it  was  said  in  reply,  resides  in 
the  people  to  amend  their  form  of  government.  An  array  of 
parties  was  avoided ;  and  with  little  opposition  a  convention 
was  ordered. 

The  choice  took  place  at  a  moment  when  the  country  peo- 
ple of  Massachusetts  were  bowed  down  by  cumulative  debts, 
and  quivering  in  the  agonies  of  a  suppressed  insurrection ;  the 
late  disturbers  of  the  peace  were  scarcely  certain  of  amnesty ; 
and  they  knew  that  the  general  government,  if  established, 
must  array  itself  against  violence.  The  election  resulted  in 
the  choice  of  at  least  eighteen  of  the  late  insurgents.  The  ru- 
ral population  were  disinclined  to  a  change.  The  people  in 
the  district  of  Maine,  which  in  territory  far  exceeded  Massa- 
chusetts, had  never  willingly  accepted  annexation ;  the  desire 
for  a  government  of  their  own  outweighed  their  willingness 
to  enter  into  the  union  as  a  member  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  one 
half  of  their  delegates  were  ready  to  oppose  the  constitution. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  commercial  towns  of  Maine,  all  manu- 
facturers, men  of  wealth,  the  lawyers,  including  the  judges  of 
all  the  courts,  and  nearly  all  the  officers  of  the  late  army,  were 
in  favor  of  the  new  form  of  general  government.  The  voters 
of  Cambridge  rejected  Elbridge  Gerry  in  favor  of  Francis 
Dana  ;  in  Beverly,  Nathan  Dane  was  put  aside  *  for  George 
Cabot ;  the  members  from  Maine  were  exactly  balanced ;  but 
of  those  from  Massachusetts  proper  a  majority  of  perhaps  ten 
or  twelve  was  opposed  to  the  ratification  of  the  constitution. 
Among  the  elected  were  King,  Gorham,  and  Strong,  who  had 
been  of  the  federal  convention ;  the  late  and  present  governors, 
Bowdoin  and  Hancock ;  Heath  and  Lincoln  of  the  army ;  of 
rising  statesmen,  John  Brooks  and  Christopher  Gore  ;  The- 
ophilus  Parsons,  Theodore  Sedgwick,  John  Davis,  and  Fisher 
Ames ;  and  about  twenty  ministers  of  various  religious  de- 
nominations. So  able  a  body  had  never  met  in  Massachusetts. 
Full  of  faith  that  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  was  the 

*  Ind.  Gazetteer,  8,  9  January  1788. 


1788.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  397 

greatest  question  of  the  age,  the  f  ederaKsts  were  all  thoroiighl;y 
in  earnest,  and  influenced  bj  no  inferior  motives ;  so  that  there 
could  be  among  them  neither  cabals  in  council  nor  uncertainty 
in  action.  They  obeyed  an  immovable  determination  to  over- 
come the  seemingly  adverse  majority.  As  a  consequence,  they 
had  discipline  and  concerted  action. 

It  was  consistent  with  the  whole  public  life  of  Samuel  Ad- 
ams, the  helmsman  of  the  revolution  at  its  origin,  the  truest 
representative  of  the  home  rule  of  Massachusetts  in  its  town- 
meetings  and  general  court,  that  he  was  startled  when,  on  en- 
tering the  new  "  building,  he  met  with  a  national  government 
instead  of  a  federal  union  of  sovereign  states ; "  but,  in  direct 
antagonism  to  George  Mason  and  Richard  Henry  Lee,  he  had 
always  approved  granting  to  the  general  government  the  power 
of  regulating  commerce."^  Before  he  had  declared  his  inten- 
tions, perhaps  before  they  had  fully  ripened,  his  constituents 
of  the  industrial  classes  of  Boston,  which  had  ever  been  his 
main  support,  came  together,  and  from  a  crowded  hall  a  cry 
went  forth  that  on  the  rejection  of  the  constitution  "  naviga- 
tion "  would  languish  and  "  skilful  mechanics  be  compelled  to 
emigrate,"  so  that  "  any  vote  of  a  delegate  from  Boston  against 
adopting  it  would  be  contrary  to  the  interests,  feelings,  and 
wishes  of  the  tradesmen  of  the  town." 

The  morning  betokened  foul  weather,  but  the  heavy  clouds 
would  not  join  together.  The  enterprising  and  prosperous 
men  of  Maine,  though  they  desired  separation  from  Massachu- 
setts, had  no  sympathy  with  the  late  insurrection ;  and  the 
country  people,  though  they  could  only  by  slow  degrees  ac- 
custom their  minds  to  untried  restraints  on  their  rustic  liberty, 
never  wavered  in  their  attachment  to  the  union.  The  conven- 
tion was  organized  with  the  governor  of  the  commonwealth  as 
its  president.f  The  federahsts  of  Philadelphia  had  handled 
their  opponents  roughly ;  the  federalists  of  Massachusetts  re- 

*  The  activity  and  wise  and  efficient  support  of  the  constitution  by  Samuel 
Adams  I  received  from  my  friend  John  Davis,  who  was  a  member  of  the  conven- 
tion, and  who  was  singularly  skilful  in  weighing  evidence.  The  account  which  he 
gave  me  is  thoroughly  supported  by  the  official  record. 

f  Debates  and  Proceedings  in  the  Convention,  etc.,  published  by  the  legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  edited  by  B.  K.  Peirce  and  C.  Ilale.  The  best  collection  on  the 
subject. 


398     THE   STATES  EATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  iii. 

solved  never  in  debate  to  fail  in  gentleness  and  courtesy.  A 
motion  to  request  Elbridge  Gerry  to  take  a  seat  in  the  conven- 
tion, that  he  might  answer  questions  of  fact,  met  no  objection  ; 
and  he  was  left  to  grow  sick  of  sitting  in  a  house  to  which  he 
had  failed  of  an  election,  and  in  whose  debates  he  could  not 
join.  On  motion  of  Caleb  Strong,  no  vote  was  to  be  taken  till 
the  debate,  which  assumed  the  form  of  a  free  conversation, 
should  have  gone  over  the  several  paragraphs  of  the  constitu- 
tion.* 

Massachusetts  had  instructed  its  delegates  in  the  federal 
convention  to  insist  on  the  annual  election  of  representatives ; 
Samuel  Adams  asked  why  they  were  to  be  chosen  for  two 
years.  Strong  explained  that  it  was  a  necessary  compromise 
among  so  many  states;  and  Adams  answered;  "I  am  satis- 
fied." f  This  remark  the  federal  leaders  entreated  him  to  re- 
peat ;  he  did  so,  when  all  gave  attention,  and  the  objection  was 
definitively  put  to  rest. 

Referring  to  tlie  power  of  congress  to  take  part  in  regu- 
lating the  elections  of  senators  and  representatives,  Phineas 
Bishop  of  Rehoboth  proclaimed  "the  liberties  of  the  yeo- 
manry at  an  end."  It  is  but  "  a  guarantee  of  free  elections," 
said  Cabot.  "  And  a  security  of  the  rights  of  the  people," 
added  Theophilus  Parsons.  "  Our  rulers,"  observed  Widgery 
of  Maine,  "  ought  to  have  no  power  which  they  can  abuse."  if 
"  All  the  godly  men  we  read  of,"  added  Abraham  White  of 
Bristol,  "  have  failed ;  I  would  not  trust  a  flock,  though  every 
one  of  them  should  be  a  Moses." 

On  the  seventeenth  an  ofiicial  letter  from  Connecticut  an- 
nounced the  very  great  majority  by  which  it  had  adopted  the 
constitution ;  but  its  enemies  in  Massachusetts  w^ere  unmoved. 
Samuel  Thompson  of  Maine  condemned  it  for  not  requiring 
of  a  representative  some  property  qualification,  saying :  "  Men 
w^ho  have  nothing  to  lose  have  nothing  to  fear."  "  Do  you 
wish  to  exclude  from  the  federal  government  a  good  man  be- 
cause he  is  not  rich  ? "  asked  Theodore  Sedgwick.  ''  The  men 
who  have  most  injured  the  country,"  said  King,  "  have  com- 
monly been  rich  men." 

On  tlie  eighteenth  the  compromise  respecting  the  taxation 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  d.  f  From  John  Davis.  X  Elliot,  ii.,  28. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  399 

and  representation  of  slaves  was  cried  against.  Thomas  Dawes 
of  Boston  answered :  "  Congress  in  tlie  year  1808  may  wlioHy 
prohibit  the  importation  of  them,  leaving  every  particular  state 
in  the  mean  time  its  own  option  totally  to  prohibit  their  intro- 
duction into  its  own  territories.  Slavery  could  not  be  abol- 
ished by  an  act  of  congress  in  a  moment ;  but  it  has  received  a 
mortal  wound."  * 

On  the  nineteenth  a  farmer  of  Worcester  county  com- 
plained :  "  There  is  no  provision  that  men  in  power  should 
have  any  religion  ;  a  Papist  or  an  inhdel  is  as  eligible  as  Chris- 
tians." John  Brooks  and  Parsons  spoke  on  the  other  side ; 
and  Daniel  Shute,  the  minister  of  Hingham,  said;  ''I^o  con- 
ceivable advantage  to  the  whole  will  result  from  a  test."  Wil- 
liam Jones  of  Maine  rejoined :  "  It  would  be  happy  for  the 
United  States  if  our  public  men  were  to  be  of  those  who  have 
a  good  standing  in  the  church."  Philip  Payson,  the  minister 
of  Chelsea,  retorted :  "  Human  tribunals  for  the  consciences  of 
men  are  impious  encroachments  upon  the  prerogatives  of  God. 
A  religious  test,  as  a  qualification  for  otfice,  would  have  been  a 
great  blemish." 

William  Jones  of  Maine  objected  to  the  long  period  of 
otfice  for  the  senators.  "  One  third  of  the  senators,"  observed 
Fisher  Ames,  "are  to  be  introduced  every  second  year;  the 
constitution,  in  practice  as  in  theory,  will  be  that  of  a  federal 
republic."  "We  cannot,"  continued  Jones,  "recall  the  sena- 
tors." "  Their  duration,"  answered  King,  "  is  not  too  long  for 
a  right  discharge  of  their  duty." 

On  the  twenty-first.  King  explained  the  nature  of  the  tran- 
sition f  from  a  league  of  states  with  only  authority  to  make 
requisitions  on  each  state,  to  a  republic  instituted  by  the  peo- 
ple with  the  right  to  apply  laws  directly  to  the  individual 
members  of  the  states.  He  showed  that  without  the  power 
over  the  purse  and  the  sword  no  government  can  give  security 
to  the  people ;  analyzed  and  defended  the  grant  of  revenue 
alike  from  indirect  and  direct  taxes,  and  insisted  that  the  pro- 
posed constitution  is  the  only  efiicient  federal  government  that 
can  be  substituted  for  the  old  confederation. 

Thomas  Dawes  of  Boston  defended  the  power  of  laying 

*  EU'ot,  ii.,  41.  t  Elliot,  ii.,  54-5'7. 


400    THE  STATES   EATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTIOi^.  b.  iv.  ;  oh.  hi. 

imposts  and  excises  in  this  wise  :  "  For  want  of  general  laws  of 
prohibition  through  the  union,  our  coasting  trade,  our  whole 
commerce,  is  going  to  ruin.  A  vessel  from  Halifax  with  its 
fish  and  whalebone  finds  as  heart j  a  welcome  at  the  southern 
ports  as  though  built  and  navigated  and  freighted  from  Salem 
or  Boston.  South  of  Delaware  three  fourths  of  the  exports 
and  three  fourths  of  the  returns  are  made  in  British  bottoms. 
Of  timber,  one  half  of  the  value — of  other  produce  shipped 
for  London  from  a  southern  state,  three  tenths — ^go  to  the  Brit- 
ish carrier  in  the  names  of  freight  and  charges.  This  is  money 
which  belongs  to  the  l^ew  England  states,  because  we  can  fur- 
nish the  ships  much  better  than  the  British.  Our  sister  states  are 
willing  that  these  benefits  should  be  secured  to  us  by  national 
laws ;  but  we  are  slaves  to  Europe.  We  have  no  uniformity 
in  duties,  imposts,  excises,  or  prohibitions.  Congress  has  no 
authority  to  withhold  advantages  from  foreigners  in  order  to 
obtain  reciprocal  advantages  from  them.  Our  manufacturers 
have  received  no  encouragement  by  national  duties  on  foreign 
manuf actui-es,  and  they  never  can  by  any  authority  in  the  con- 
federation. The  very  face  of  our  country,  our  numerous  falls 
of  water,  and  places  for  mills,  lead  to  manufactures :  have  they 
been  encouraged  ?  Has  congress  been  able  by  national  laws  to 
prevent  the  importation  of  such  foreign  commodities  as  are 
made  from  such  raw  materials  as  we  ourselves  raise?  The 
citizens  of  the  United  States  within  the  last  three  years  have 
contracted  debts  with  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  to  the 
amount  of  near  six  millions  of  dollars.  If  we  wish  to  en- 
courage our  own  manufactures,  to  preserve  our  own  commerce, 
to  raise  the  value  of  our  own  lands,  we  must  give  congress  the 
powers  m  question."  ^ 

Every  day  that  passed  showed  the  doubtfulness  of  the  con- 
vention. "  The  decision  of  Massachusetts  either  way,"  wrote 
Madison  from  congress,  "  will  involve  the  result  in  ITew  York," 
and  a  negative  would  rouse  the  minority  in  Pennsylvania  to  a 
stubborn  resistance.  Langdon  of  ISTew  Hampshire,  and  men 
from  l^ewport  and  Providence  who  came  to  watch  the  course 
of  the  debates,  reported  that  I^ew  Hampshire  and  Rhode 
Island  would  accept  the  constitution  should  it  be  adopted  by 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  57-60. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTION"  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  401 

Massacliusetts.  Gerry,  under  the  influence  of  HicLard  Henry 
Lee,  had  written  a  letter  to  the  two  houses  of  Massachusetts, 
insinuating  that  the  constitution  needed  amendments,  and 
should  not  be  adopted  till  they  were  made.  These  same  sug- 
gestions had  been  circulated  throughout  Virginia,  where,  as 
has  already  been  related,*  Washington  threw  himself  into  tlie 
discussion  and  advised,  as  the  only  true  policy,  to  accept  the 
constitution  and  amend  it  by  the  methods  which  the  con- 
stitution itself  had  established.  The  letter  in  which  he  had 
given  this  advice  reached  Boston  in  season  to  be  published  in 
the  Boston  "Centinel"  of  the  twenty- third  of  January.  In 
the  convention  the  majority  still  seemed  adverse  to  the  consti- 
tution. To  win  votes  from  the  ranks  of  its  foes,  its  friends, 
following  the  counsels  of  Washington,  resolved  to  combine 
with  its  ratification  a  recommendation  of  amendments.  For 
this  end  Bowdoin  and  Hancock,  Theophilus  Parsons  and  Gor- 
ham,  Samuel  Adams,  Heath,  and  a  very  few  other  resolute  and 
trusty  men,  matured  in  secret  council  a  plan  of  action. f 

Meantime  Samuel  Thompson  could  see  no  safety  but  in  a 
bill  of  rights.  Bowdoin  spoke  at  large  for  the  new  govern- 
ment with  its  ability  to  pay  the  public  debts  and  to  regulate 
commerce.  "Power  inadequate  to  its  object  is  worse  than 
none  ;  checks  are  provided  to  prevent  abuse.  The  whole  con- 
stitution is  a  declaration  of  rights.  It  will  complete  the  tem- 
ple of  American  liberty,  and  consecrate  it  to  justice.  May 
this  convention  erect  Massachusetts  as  one  of  its  pillars  on  the 
foundation  of  perfect  union,  never  to  be  dissolved  but  by  the 
dissolution  of  nature."  J 

Parsons  recapitulated  and  answered  the  objections  brought 
against  the  constitution,  and  closed  his  remarks  by  saying :  "  An 
increase  of  the  powers  of  the  federal  constitution  by  usurpa- 
tion wiU  be  upon  thirteen  completely  organized  legislatures 
having  means  as  well  as  inclination  to  oppose  it  successfully. 
The  people  themselves  have  power  to  resist  it  without  an  ap- 
peal to  arms.  An  act  of  usurpation  is  not  law,  and  therefore 
is  not  obligatory ;  and  any  man  may  be  justified  in  his  resist- 
ance.    Let  him  be  considered   as  a  criminal  by  the  general 

*  See  page  380  of  this  volume. 

f  King  to  Madison,  quoted  in  Madison's  Writings,  i.,  373.     ^  Elliot,  ii.,  S0-S8. 
VOL.  VI. — 26 


402     THE  STATES  RATIFY  THE  CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv. ;  oh.  iii. 

government ;  liis  own  fellow-citizens  are  his  jurj ;  and  if  they 
pronounce  him  innocent,  not  all  the  powers  of  congress  can 
hurt  him."  * 

On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-fourth,  Nason  of  Maine, 
an  implacable  enemy  of  the  constitution,  proposed  to  cease 
its  discussion  by  paragraphs  so  as  to  open  the  whole  question. 
This  attempt  "  to  hurry  the  matter "  was  resisted  by  Samuel 
Adams  in  a  speech  so  eifective  that  the  motion  was  negatived 
without  a  division. 

On  the  next  day  Amos  Singletary  of  Sutton,  a  husband- 
man venerable  from  age  and  from  patriotic  service  from  the 
very  beginning  of  the  troubles  with  England,  resisted  the  con- 
stitution as  an  attempt  to  tax  and  bind  the  people  in  all  cases 
whatsoever. 

Jonathan  Smith  of  Lanesborough,  speaking  to  men  who 
like  himself  followed  the  plough  for  their  livelihood,  began  a 
reply  by  arguments  drawn  from  the  late  insurrection,  when  he 
was  called  to  order.  Samuel  Adams  instantly  said  with  au- 
thority :  "  The  gentleman  is  in  order ;  let  him  go  on  in  his  own 
way."  The  "  plain  man  "  then  proceeded  in  homely  words  to 
show  that  farmers  in  the  western  counties,  in  their  great  dis- 
tress during  the  insurrection,  would  have  been  glad  to  snatch 
at  anything  like  a  govermnent  for  protection.  "  This  constitu- 
tion," he  said,  "  is  just  such  a  cure  for  these  disorder  as  w^e 
wanted.     Anarchy  leads  to  tyranny." 

Attention  was  arrested  by  the  clause  on  the  slave-trade. 
'*  My  profession,"  said  James  Neal  of  Maine,  "  obliges  me  to 
bear  witness  against  anything  that  favors  making  merchandise 
of  the  bodies  of  men,  and  unless  this  objection  is  removed  I 
cannot  put  my  hand  to  the  constitution."  "  Shall  it  be  said," 
cried  Samuel  Thompson,  "  that  after  we  have  established  our 
own  independence  and  freedom  we  make  slaves  of  others? 
How  has  Washington  immortalized  himself !  but  he  holds  those 
in  slavery  who  have  as  good  a  right  to  be  free  as  he  has.' '  Dana 
and  Samuel  Adams  rejoiced  that  a  door  was  to  be  opened  for 
the  total  annihilation  of  the  slave-trade  after  twenty  years ;  but 
hatred  of  slavery  influenced  the  final  vote.f 

On  the  morning  of  the  thirty-first  of  January,  Hancock, 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  94.  f  Elliot,  ii.,  107,  120. 


1738.  THE   CONSTITUTIOIsr  IN"  MASSACHUSETTS.  403 

wlio  till  tlien  had  been  kept  from  liis  place  by  painful  illness, 
took  the  chair,  and  the  concerted  movement  began.  Conver- 
sation came  to  an  end ;  and  Parsons  proposed  "  that  the  con- 
vention do  assent  to  and  ratify  the  constitution."*  Heath 
suggested  that  in  ratifying  it  they  should  instruct  their  mem- 
bers of  congress  to  endeavor  to  provide  proper  checks  and 
guards  in  some  of  its  paragraphs,  and  that  the  convention 
should  correspond  with  their  sister  states,  to  request  their  con- 
currence." t 

Hancock  then  spoke  earnestly  for  the  necessity  of  adopting 
the  proposed  form  of  government ;  and  brought  forward  nine 
general  amendments.  Taken  from  the  letters  of  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  the  remonstrance  of  the  minority  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  objections  made  in  the  Massachusetts  debates,  "  they 
were  the  production  of  the  federalists  after  mature  delibera- 
tion," and  were  clad  in  terse  and  fittest  words,  which  revealed 
the  workmanship  of  Parsons.  "  All  powers  not  expressly  dele- 
gated to  congress,"  so  ran  the  most  important  of  them,  "  are 
reserved  to  the  several  states." 

"  I  feel  myself  happy,"  thus  Samuel  Adams  addressed  the 
chair,  "  in  contemplating  the  idea  that  many  benefits  w^ill  re- 
sult from  your  Excellency's  conciliatory  proposition  to  this 
commonwealth  and  to  the  whole  United  States.  The  objec- 
tions made  to  this  constitution  as  far  as  Virginia  are  similar. 
I  have  had  my  doubts  ;  other  gentlemen  have  had  theirs  ;  the 
proposition  submitted  will  tend  to  remove  such  doubts,  and 
conciliate  the  minds  of  the  convention  and  of  the  people  out- 
of-doors.  The  measure  of  Massachusetts  will  from  her  impor- 
tance have  the  most  salutary  effect  in  other  states  where  con- 
ventions have  not  yet  met,  and  throughout  the  union.  The 
people  should  be  united  in  a  federal  government  to  withstand 
the  common  enemy  and  to  preserve  their  rights  and  liberties ; 
I  should  fear  the  consequences  of  large  minorities  in  the  sev- 
eral states. 

"The  article  which  empowers  congress  to  regulate  com- 
merce and  to  form  treaties  I  esteem  particularly  valuable.  For 
want  of  this  power  in  our  national  head  our  friends  are 
grieved  ;  our  enemies  insult  us ;  our  minister  at  the  court  of 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  120.  f  ElUot,  ii.,  122. 


404    THE   STATES  EATIFY  THE   COiTSTITUTION.  b.  iy.  ;  oh.  hi. 

London  is  a  cipher.  A  power  to  remedy  this  evil  should  be 
given  to  congress,  and  applied  as  soon  as  possible.  I  move 
that  the  paper  read  by  your  Excellency  be  now  taken  into  con- 
sideration." * 

Samuel  Adams,  on  the  first  day  of  February,  invited  mem^ 
bers  to  propose  still  further  amendments;  but  Nason  of 
Maine,  the  foremost  in  opposition,  stubbornly  refused  to  take 
part  in  supporting  a  constitution  which,  they  said,  "  destroyed 
the  sovereignty  of  Massachusetts."  f 

The  measure  was  referred  to  a  committee  formed  on  the 
principle  of  selecting  from  each  county  one  of  its  friends  and 
one  of  its  opponents ;  but  as  both  of  the  two  delegates  from 
Dukes  county  were  federalists,  only  one  of  them  took  a  place 
in  the  committee.  Thirteen  of  its  members  were  federalists 
from  the  beginning.  At  the  decision,  the  committee  consisted 
of  twenty-four  members;  one  absented  himself  and  one  de- 
clined to  vote ;  so  that  in  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  the  fourth 
of  February,  Bowdoin  as  chairman  of  the  committee  could  re- 
port its  approval  of  the  constitution  with  the  recommendation 
of  amendments  by  a  vote  of  fifteen  to  seven. 

At  tliis  result  opposition  flared  anew.  Thomas  Lusk  of 
"West  Stockbridge  revived  complaints  of  the  slave-trade,  and 
of  opening  the  door  to  popery  and  the  inquisition  by  dispens- 
ing with  a  religious  test.  But  Isaac  Backus,  the  Baptist  min- 
ister of  Middleborough,  one  of  the  most  exact  of  ITew  Eng- 
land historians,  replied :  "  In  reason  and  the  holy  scriptures 
religion  is  ever  a  matter  between  God  and  individuals ;  the 
imposing  of  religious  tests  hath  been  the  greatest  engine  of 
tyranny  in  the  world."  Rebuking  the  importation  of  slaves 
with  earnestness,  he  trusted  in  the  passing  away  of  slavery 
itself,  saying :  "  Slavery  grows  more  and  more  odious  to  the 
world."  J     "  This  constitution,"  said  Fisher  Ames,  on  the  fifth 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  123-125.  Let  no  one  be  misled  by  the  words  "conditional 
amendments  "  in  the  report  of  Mr.  Adams's  speech.  He  spoke  not  of  amend- 
ments offered  as  the  condition  of  the  acceptance  of  the  constitution  by  Massa- 
chusetts, but  advised  that  Massachusetts  should  connect  with  its  ratification  a 
recommendation  of  amendments ;  the  ratification  to  be  valid  whatever  fate  might 
await  the  amendments.  This  is  exactly  the  proposition  concerted  between  Par- 
sons, Hancock,  and  himself.  Rufus  King  to  Knox,  in  Drake's  Knox,  98. 
f  Elliot,  ii.,  133,  134.  J  Elliot,  ii.,  148-151. 


1788.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  405 

day,  "  is  comparatively  perfect ;  no  subsisting  government,  no 
government  which  I  have  ever  heard  of,  will  bear  a  compari- 
son with  it.  The  state  government  is  a  beautiful  structure, 
situated,  however,  upon  the  naked  beach;  the  union  is  the 
dike  to  fence  out  the  flood."  * 

John  Taylor  of  Worcester  county  objected  that  the 
amendments  might  never  become  a  part  of  the  system,  and 
that  there  was  no  bill  of  rights.  "  No  power,"  answered  Par- 
sons, "is  given  to  congress  to  infringe  on  any  one  of  the 
natural  rights  of  the  people ;  should  they  attempt  it  without 
constitutional  authority,  the  act  would  be  a  nullity  and  could 
not  be  enforced."  Gilbert  Dench  of  Middlesex,  coinciding 
with  the  wishes  of  the  opposition  in  Yirginia,  and  with  a  mo- 
tion of  Whitehill  in  the  convention  of  Pennsylvania,  proposed 
an  adjournment  of  the  convention  to  some  future  day.  A 
long  and  warm  contest  ensued ;  but  Samuel  Adams  skiKully 
resisted  the  motion,  and  of  the  three  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
members  who  were  present,  it  obtained  but  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  votes. f 

On  the  sixth  the  office  of  closing  the  debate  was  by  com- 
mon consent  assigned  to  Samuel  Stillman,  a  Baptist  minister 
of  Boston.  Recapitulating  and  weighing  the  arguments  of 
each  side,  he  said,  in  the  words  of  a  statesman  of  Virginia : 
"  Cling  to  the  union  as  the  rock  of  our  salvation,"  and  he  sum- 
moned the  state  of  Massachusetts  "  to  urge  Yirginia  to  finish 
the  salutary  work  which  hath  been  begun."  :j: 

Before  putting  the  question,  Hancock  spoke  words  that 
were  remembered :  "  I  give  my  assent  to  the  constitution  in 
full  confidence  that  the  amendments  proposed  will  soon  be- 
come a  part  of  the  system.  The  people  of  this  commonwealth 
will  quietly  acquiesce  in  the  voice  of  the  majority,  and,  where 
they  see  a  want  of  perfection  in  the  proposed  form  of  govern- 
ment, endeavor,  in  a  constitutional  way,  to  have  it  amended." 

The  question  being  taken,  the  counties  of  Dukes,  Essex, 
Su£[olk,  and  Plymouth,  and  in  Maine  of  Cumberland  and 
Lincoln,  all  counties  that  touched  the  sea,  gave  majorities  in 
favor  of  the  constitution  ;  Middlesex  and  Bristol,  the  whole  of 
Massachusetts  to  the  west  of  them,  and  the  county  of  York  in 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  154-159.  f  Elliot,  ii.,  161,  162.  +  Elliot,  u.,  162,  170. 


/ 


406    THE   STATES  RATIFY   THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  iii. 

Maine,  gave  majorities  against  it.  The  majority  of  Maine  for 
tlie  constitution  was  in  proportion  greater  than  in  Massachusetts. 
^  The  motion  for  ratifying  the  constitution  was  declared  to 
be  in  the  affirmative  by  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  votes 
against  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight.*  The  bells  and  artillery 
announced  the  glad  news  to  every  part  of  the  town. 

With  the  declaration  of  the  vote,  every  symptom  of  per- 
sistent opposition  vanished.  No  person  even  wished  for  a 
protest.  Tlie  convention,  after  dissolving  itseK,  pai*took  of  a 
modest  collation  in  the  senate-chamber,  where,  merging  party 
ideas  in  mutual  congratulations,  they  all  "  smoked  the  calumet 
of  love  and  •union."  "  The  Boston  people,"  WTote  Knox  to 
Livingston,  "  have  lost  their  senses  with  joy."  f  The  Long 
Lane  by  the  meeting-house,  in  which  the  convention  held  its 
sessions,  took  from  that  time  the  name  of  Federal  street.  The 
prevaiUng  joy  difiPused  itself  through  the  commonwealth.  In 
'New  York,  at  noon,  men  hoisted  the  pine-tree  flag  with  an 
appropriate  inscription.  Six  states  had  ratified,  and  six  salutes, 
each  of  thirteen  guns,  were  lired. 

The  example  of  Massachusetts  was  held  worthy  of  imita- 
tion. "  A  conditional  ratification  or  a  second  convention,"  so 
wrote  Madison  to  Eandolph  in  April,  "  appears  to  me  utterly 
irreconcilable  with  the  dictates  of  prudence  and  safety.  Rec- 
ommendatory  alterations  are  the  only  ground  for  a  coalition 
among  the  real  federalists."  :j: 

Jefferson,  w^hile  in  congress  as  the  successor  of  Madison, 
had  led  the  way  zealously  toward  rendering  the  American 
constitution  more  perfect.  "The  federal  convention,"  so  he 
wrote  to  OPiC  correspondent  on  liearing  who  were  its  members, 
"is  really  an  assembly  of  demigods;"  and  to  another:  "It 
consists  of  the  ablest  men  in  America."  He  hoped  from  it  a 
broader  reformation,  and  saw  with  satisfaction  "  a  general  dis- 
position through  the  states  to  adopt  what  it  should  propose." 
To  Washington  he  soberly  expressed  the  opinions  from  which 
during  his  long  life  he  never  departed  :  "  To  make  our  states 
one  as  to  all  foreign  concerns,  preserve  tliem  several  as  to  all 

*  Elliot,  ii.,  T74-176,  181. 

f  Knox  to  Livingston,  13  February  1788. 

X  Madison's  Works,  i.,  3S6,  and  compare  37G-379. 


1787-1789.     THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.         407 

merely  domestic,  to  give  to  the  federal  liead  some  peaceable 
mode  of  enforcing  its  just  authority,  to  organize  that  head 
into  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary  departments,  are  great 
desiderata."  * 

Early  in  ITovember  Jefferson  received  a  copy  of  the  new 
constitution,  and  approved  the  great  mass  of  its  provisions.! 
But  once  he  called  it  a  kite  set  np  to  keep  the  hen-yard  in  or- 
der ;  :j:  and  with  three  or  four  new  articles  he  would  have  pre- 
served the  venerable  fabric  of  the  old  confederation  as  a  sacred 
rehc. 

To  Madison  *  he  explained  himself  in  a  long  and  deliber- 
ate letter.  A  house  of  representatives  elected  directly  by  the 
people  he  thought  would  be  far  inferior  to  one  chosen  by  the 
state  legislatures ;  but  he  accepted  that  mode  of  election  from 
respect  to  the  fundamental  principle  that  the  people  are  not  to 
be  taxed  but  by  representatives  chosen  immediately  by  them- 
selves. He  was  captivated  by  the  compromise  between  the 
great  and  smaller  states,  and  the  method  of  voting  in  both 
branches  of  the  legislature  by  persons  instead  of  voting  by 
states;  but  he  utterly  condemned  the  omission  of  a  bill  of 
rights,  and  the  abandonment  of  the  principle  of  rotation  in  the 
choice  of  the  president.  In  December  he  declared  himself  "  a 
friend  to  a  very  energetic  government ; "  for  he  held  that  it 
would  bo  "  always  oppressive."  He  presumed  that  Virginia 
would  reject  the  new  constitution  ;  ||  for  himself  he  said :  "  It 
is  my  principle  that  the  will  of  the  majority  should  prevail ; 
if  they  approve,  I  shall  cheerfully  concur  in  the  proposed  con- 
stitution, in  hopes  they  will  amend  it  whenever  they  shall  find 
that  it  works  Avrong."  ^  In  February  1788  he  wrote  to  Madi- 
son (}  and  at  least  one  more  of  his  correspondents :  *'  I  wish 
with  all  my  soul  that  the  nine  first  conventions  may  accept  the 
new  constitution,  to  secure  to  ns  the  good  it  contains ;  but  I 
equally  wish  that  the  four  latest,  whichever  they  may  be,  may 
refuse  to  accede  to  it  till  a  declaration  of  rights  be  annexed ; 
but  no  objection  to  the  new  form  must  produce  a  schism  in 

*  Jefferson,  i.,  349,  260,  140,  2G4,  250,  251. 

f  Jefferson,  i.,  79,  and  ii.,  58G.       ||  Jefferson,  ii.,  325. 
X  Jefferson,  ii.,  319.  ^  Jefferson,  ii.,  332. 

#  Jefferson,  ii.,  328-331.  ()  Jefferson  to  Madison,  G  February  1788. 


408     THE   STATES  EATIFY   THE   CONSTITUTIO:^'.  b.  it.  ;  oh.  hi. 

our  union."  This  was  the  last  word  from  him  which  reached 
America  in  time  to  have  any  influence.  But  in  May  of  that 
year,  so  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  method  adopted  by  Massachu- 
setts, he  declared  that  it  was  far  preferable  to  his  own,  and 
wished  it  to  be  followed  by  every  state,  especially  by  Vir- 
ginia.^ To  Madison  he  wrote  in  July :  "  The  constitution  is 
a  good  canvas  on  which  some  strokes  only  want  retouching."  f 
In  1789  to  a  friend  in  Philadelphia  he  wrote  with  perfect 
truth :  "  I  am  not  of  the  party  of  federalists ;  but  I  am  much 
further  from  that  of  the  anti-federalists."  J 

The  constitution  was  to  John  Adams  more  of  a  surprise 
than  to  Jefferson ;  but  at  once  he  formed  his  unchanging  judg- 
ment, and  in  December  1787  he  wrote  of  it  officially  to  Jay : 
"  The  public  mind  cannot  be  occupied  about  a  nobler  object 
than  the  proposed  plan  of  government.  It  appears  to  be  ad- 
mirably calculated  to  cement  all  America  in  affection  and  in- 
terest as  one  great  nation.  A  result  of  compromise  cannot 
perfectly  coincide  with  every  one's  ideas  of  perfection ;  but, 
as  all  the  great  principles  necessary  to  order,  liberty,  and  safety 
are  respected  in  it,  and  provision  is  made  for  amendments  as 
they  may  be  found  necessary,  I  hope  to  hear  of  its  adojotion 
by  all  the  states."  * 

*  Jefferson,  ii.,  398,  399,  404.     f  Jefferson,  ii.,  445.     X  Jefferson,  ii.,  585,  586. 

*  John  Adams's  Works,  viii.,  467;  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  1783-1789, 
v.,  356. 


1788,         THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  NEW  HxiMPSHIRE.  409 


CHAPTER  lY. 

THE   CONSTITUTION   IN"   NEW   HAMPSHIRE,    IkLVRYLANDj    AND    SOUTH 

CAROLINA. 

Feom  Febeuaey  TO  23  May  1788. 

Langdon,  the  outgoing  cliief  magistrate  of  ISTew  Hamp- 
shire, and  Sullivan,  his  successful  competitor,  vied  with  each 
other  in  zeal  for  federal  measures ;  but  when,  in  February 
1788,  the  convention  of  the  state  came  together  there  appeared 
to  be  a  small  majority  against  any  change.  In  a  seven  days' 
debate,  Joshua  Atherton  of  Amherst ;  Yf  illiam  Plooper,  the 
minister  of  Marbury ;  Matthias  Stone,  deacon  of  the  church  in 
Claremont;  Abiel  Parker,  from  Jaffrey,  reproduced  the  ob- 
jections that  had  been  urged  in  the  neighboring  state ;  while 
John  Sullivan,  John  Langdon,  Samuel  Livermore,  Josiah  Bart- 
lett,  and  John  Pickering  explained  and  defended  it  with  con- 
ciliatory moderation.  When  zealots  complained  of  the  want 
of  a  religious  test,  Woodbury  Langdon,  lately  president  of 
Harvard  college,  but  now  a  minister  of  the  gospel  at  Hampton 
Falls,  demonstrated  that  religion  is  a  question  between  God 
and  man  in  which  no  civil  authority  may  interfere.  Dow, 
from  Weare,  spoke  against  the  twenty  years'  sufferance  of  the 
foreign  slave-trade;  and  to  the  explanation  of  Langdon  that 
under  the  confederation  the  power  exists  without  limit,  Ather- 
ton answered  :  "  It  is  our  full  purpose  to  wash  our  hands  clear 
of  becoming  its  guarantees  even  for  a  term  of  years." 

The  friends  of  the  constitution  won  converts  enough  to 
hold  the  balance  ;  but  these  were  fettered  by  instructions  from 
their  towns.  To  give  them  an  opportunity  to  consult  their 
constituents,  the  friends  of  the  constitution  proposed  an  ad- 


410      THE   STATES   RATIFY   THE   C0:N"STITUTI0X.  B.iv.;cn.iy. 

joTirnment  till  June,  saying,  witli  ofclier  reasons,  that  it  would 
be  verj  prudent  for  a  small  state  like  ISTew  Hampsliire  to  wait 
and  see  wliat  the  other  states  would  do.  This  was  the  argu- 
ment which  had  the  greatest  weight.*  The  place  of  meeting 
was  changed  from  Exeter,  a  stronghold  of  federalism,  to  Con- 
cord ;  and  the  adjournment  was  then  carried  by  a  slender  ma- 
jority.! 

The  assembly  of  Maryland,  in  November  1787,  summoned 
its  delegates  to  tha  federal  convention  to  give  them  informa- 
tion of  its  proceedings;  and  Martin  rehearsed  to  them  and 
published  to  the  world  his  three  days'  arraignment  of  that 
body  for  having  exceeded  its  authority.  He  was  answered  by 
McIIenry,  who,  by  a  concise  analysis  of  the  constitution,  drew 
to  himself  the  sympathy  of  his  hearers.  The  legislature  unani- 
mously ordered  a  convention  of  the  people  of  the  state;  it 
copied  the  example  set  by  Virginia  of  leaving  the  door  open 
for  amendments ;  ^  and  by  a  majority  of  one  the  day  for  the 
choice  and  the  day  for  the  meeting  of  its  convention  were 
postponed  till  the  next  April. 

The  long  delay  gave  opportunity  for  the  cabalings  of  the 
anti-federalists  of  Virginia.*  Hichard  Henry  Lee  was  as  zeal- 
ous as  ever ;  and  Patrick  Henry  disseminated  propositions  for 
a  southern  confederacy ;  ||  but  Washington,  who  felt  himself 
at  home  on  the  Maryland  side  of  the  Potomac,  toiled  fearless- 
ly and  faithfully,  with  Madison  at  his  side,  for  the  immediate 
and  unconditioned  ratification  of  the  constitution  by  the  South. 

In  the  three  months'  interval  before  the  election,  the  fields 
and  forests  and  to^^vns  of  Maryland  were  alive  with  thought ; 
the  merits  of  the  constitution  were  scanned  and  sifted  in  every 
public  meeting  and  at  every  hearth ;  and  on  the  day  in  1788 
for  choosing  delegates,  each  voter,  in  designating  the  candidate 
of  his  preference,  registered  his  o^vn  deliberate  decision.  In 
fifteen  counties,  and  the  cities  of  Baltimore  and  Annapolis, 
there  was  no  diversity  of  sentiment.     Two  counties  only  re- 

*  Report  in  the  Mass.  Spy,  copied  into  Ind.  Gazetteer  of  9  April  17S8. 
f  Ind.  Gazetteer,  17  March  1788. 

X  Madison  to  Jefferson,  9  December  17S7 ;  Madison,  i.,  363,  3G1. 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  iv.,  196. 

I  This  is  repeatedly  told  of  Henry  by  Carriugton.     See  also  Madison,  i.,  365 


I 


1783  THE   CONSTITUTION"  IN   MARYLAND.  411 

turned  none  but  anti-federalists ;  Harford  county  elects d  tliree 
of  that  party  and  one  trimmer. 

The  day  before  the  convention  was  to  assemble,  Washing- 
ton, guarding  against  the  only  danger  that  remained,  addressed 
a  well-considered  letter  to  Thomas  Johnson :  "  An  adjoui-n- 
ment  of  your  convention  will  be  tantamount  to  the  rejection 
of  the  constitution.  It  cannot  be  too  much  dej)reeated  and 
guarded  against.  Great  use  is  made  of  the  postponement  in 
New  Hampshire,  although  it  lias  no  reference  to  the  conven- 
tion of  this  state.  An  event  similar  to  this  in  Maryland  would 
have  the  worst  tendency  imaginable;  for  indecision  there 
would  certainly  have  considerable  influence  upon  South  Caro- 
lina, the  only  other  state  which  is  to  precede  Yirginia  ;  and  it 
submits  the  question  almost  wholly  to  the  determination  of  the 
latter.  The  pride  of  the  state  is  already  touched,  and  will  be 
raised  much  higher  if  there  is  fresh  cause."  * 

The  advice,  which  was  confirmed  by  similar  letters  from 
Madison,  was  communicated  to  several  of  the  members ;  so 
that  the  healing  influence  of  Yirginia  proved  greater  than  its 
power  to  wound.  But  the  men  of  Maryland  of  themselves 
knew  their  duty,  and  Washington's  advice  was  but  an  encour- 
agement for  them  to  proceed  in  the  way  which  they  had 
chosen. 

On  Monday,  the  twenty-first  of  April,  a  quorum  of  the 
convention  assembled  at  Annapolis.  The  settlement  of  repre- 
sentation in  the  two  branches  of  the  federal  legislature  was 
pleasing  to  all  the  representatives  of  fifteen  counties,  and  the 
cities  of  Baltimore  and  Annapolis  agreed  with  each  other  per- 
fectly that  the  main  question  had  already  been  decided  by  the 
people  in  their  respective  counties  ;  and  that  the  ratification  of 
the  constitution,  the  single  transaction  for  which  they  were 
convened,  ought  to  be  speedily  completed.  Two  days  were 
given  to  the  organization  of  the  house  and  establishing  rules 
for  its  government ;  on  the  third  tlie  constitution  was  read  a 
first  time,  and  the  motion  for  its  ratification  was  formally  made. 
The  plan  of  a  confederacy  of  slave-holding  states  found  not 

*  "Washington  to  Thomas  Johnson,  20  April  1'788  ;  T.  Johnson  to  Washing- 
ton, 10  October  1788.  Compare  Washington  to  James  McIIenry,  27  April  1788  ; 
to  Daniel  of  St.  Thomas  Jenifer,  27  April  1788  ;  to  James  Madison,  2  ilay  1788. 


412    THE   STATES   RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  iv. 

one  supporter ;  not  one  suggested  an  adjournment  for  tlie  pur- 
pose of  consultation  with  Virginia.  The  malcontents  could 
embarrass  the  convention  only  by  proposing  pernicious  amend- 
ments. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-fourth,  Samuel  Chase  took 
his  seat,  and  at  the  second  reading  of  the  constitution  began 
from  elaborate  notes  the  fiercest  opposition :  The  powers  to  be 
vested  in  the  new  government  are  deadly  to  the  cause  of  hberty, 
and  should  be  amended  before  adoption ;  five  states  can  now 
force  a  concession  of  amendments  which  after  the  national  gov- 
ernment shall  go  into  operation  could  be  carried  only  by  nine.* 
He  spoke  till  he  was  exhausted,  intending  to  resume  his  argu- 
ment on  the  following  day. 

In  the  afternoon,  William  Paca  of  Harford  county,  a 
signer  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  aj^peared  for  the 
first  time  and  sought  to  steer  between  the  clashing  opinions, 
saying :  "  I  have  a  variety  of  objections ;  not  as  conditions,  but 
to  accompany  the  ratification  as  standing  instructions  to  the 
representatives  of  Maryland  in  congress."  To  Johnson  the 
request  seemed  candid;  and  on  his  motion  the  convention 
adjourned  to  the  next  morning. f  The  interval  was  em- 
ployed in  preparing  a  set  of  amendments  to  the  constitution, 
which  were  adapted  to  injure  the  cause  of  federalism  in  Vir- 
ginia. J 

On  Friday  morning  a  member  from  each  of  eleven  several 
counties  and  the  two  cities,  one  after  the  other,  declared  "  that 
he  and  his  colleagues  were  under  an  obligation  to  vote  for  the 
government ; "  and  almost  all  declared  further  that  they  had 
no  authority  to  propose  amendments  which  their  constituents 
had  never  considered,  and  of  course  could  never  have  directed.* 
When  Paca  began  to  read  his  amendments,  he  was  called  to 
order  by  George  Gale  of  Somerset  county,  the  question  before 
the  house  being  still  "  on  the  ratification  of  the  constitution." 
Chase  once  more  "  made  a  display  of  all  his  eloquence ; " 
John  F.  Mercer  discharged  his  whole  "  artillery  of  inflammable 

*  Notes  of  Chase  on  the  constitution,  MS. ;  and  the  historical  address  of  Alex. 
C.  Hanson,  MS.  f  Hanson's  MS.  narrative. 

X  James  Mellenry  to  Washington,  18  May  1788. 

#  Alex.  C.  Hanson.     MS.     Elliot,  ii.,  548. 


1788.  THE  CONSTITUTIOlNr  IN  MAEYLAND.  413 

matter ;  "  and  Martin  rioted  in  boisterons  "  vehemence ; "  "  but 
no  converts  were  made ;  no,  not  one."  * 

The  friends  to  the  federal  government  "  remained  inflexibly 
silent."  The  malcontents  having  tired  themselves  out,  be- 
tween two  and  three  o'clock  on  Saturday,  the  twenty-sixth,  the 
constitution  was  ratified  by  sixty-three  votes  against  eleven, 
Paca  voting  with  the  majority.  Proud  of  its  great  majority 
of  nearly  six  to  one,  the  convention  fixed  Monday,  at  three 
o'clock,  for  the  time  when  they  would  all  set  their  names  to 
the  instrument  of  ratification. 

Paca  then  brought  forward  his  numerous  amendments,  say- 
ing that  with  them  his  constituents  would  receive  the  consti- 
tution, without  them  would  oppose  it  even  with  arms.f  After 
a  short  but  perplexed  debate  he  was  indulged  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  committee  of  thirteen,  of  which  he  himself  was  the 
chairman;  but  they  had  power  only  to  recommend  amend- 
ments to  the  consideration  of  the  people  of  Maryland.  The 
majority  of  the  committee  readily  acceded  to  thirteen  resolu- 
tions, explaining  the  constitution  according  to  the  construction 
of  its  friends,  and  restraining  congress  from  exercising  power 
not  expressly  delegated.  The  minority  demanded  more ;  the 
committee  fell  into  a  wrangle ;  the  convention  on  Monday  sent 
a  summons  for  them ;  and  Paca,  taking  the  side  of  the  minori- 
ty, would  make  no  report.  Thereupon  the  convention  dis- 
solved itself  by  a  great  majority. 

The  accession  of  Maryland  to  the  new  union  by  a  vote  of 
nearly  six  to  one  brought  to  the  constitution  the  majority  of 
the  thirteen  United  States,  and  a  great  majority  of  their  free 
inhabitants.  The  state  which  was  cradled  in  religious  liberty 
gained  the  undisputed  victory  over  the  first  velleity  of  the 
slave-holding  states  to  form  a  separate  confederacy.  "  It  is  a 
thorn  in  the  sides  of  the  leaders  of  opposition  in  this  state!" 
wrote  Washington  to  Madison.  J  "  Seven  afiirmative  without 
a  negative  would  almost  convert  the  unerring  sister.  The 
fiat  of  your  convention  will  most  assuredly  raise  the  edifice,"  * 
were  his  words  to  Jenifer  of  Maryland. 

*  Washington  to  Madison,  2  May  1788.  f  Hanson.     MS. 
X  Washington  to  Madison,  2  May  1788. 

*  Washington  to  Daniel  of  St.  Thomas  Jenifer,  27  April  1788. 


414     THE  STATES   RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION  b.  iv.  ;  en.  iv. 

In  his  hours  of  meditation  he  saw  the  movement  of  the  di- 
vine power  which  gives  nnitj  to  the  "universe,  and  order  and 
connection  to  events :  "  It  is  impracticable  for  any  one  who 
has  not  been  on  the  spot  to  realize  the  change  in  men's  minds, 
and  the  progress  toward  rectitude  in  thinking  and  acting. 

"  The  plot  thickens  fast.  A  few  short  weeks  will  deter- 
mine the  political  fate  of  America  for  the  present  generation, 
and  probably  produce  no  small  influence  on  the  happiness  of 
society  through  a  long  succession  of  ages  to  come.  Should 
everything  proceed  w^ith  harmony  and  consent  according  to 
our  actual  wishes  and  expectations,  it  will  be  so  much  beyond 
anything  we  had  a  right  to  imagine  or  expect  eighteen  months 
ago  that  it  will,  as  visibly  as  any  possible  event  in  the  course 
of  human  affairs,  demonstrate  the  linger  of  Providence."  ^ 

In  South  Carolina  the  new  constitution  awakened  fears  of 
oppressive  navigation  acts  and  of  disturbance  in  the  ownership 
of  slaves.  The  inhabitants  of  the  upper  country,  who  suffered 
from  the  undue  legislative  power  of  the  city  of  Charleston 
and  the  lower  counties,  foreboded  new  inequalities  from  a 
consolidation  of  the  union.  A  part  of  the  low  country,  still 
suffering  from  the  war,  had  shared  the  rage  for  instalment 
laws,  paper  money,  and  payment  of  debts  by  appraised  prop- 
erty ;  and  to  all  these  the  new  constitution  made  an  end. 

The  opposition  from  Virginia  f  intrigued  for  a  southern 
confederacy,  while  Madison,  in  entire  unison  with  Washing- 
ton, wrote  to  his  friends  in  behalf  of  union.:]:  They  both 
knew  that  there  was  to  be  resistance  to  the  constitution,  with 
Rawlins  Lowndes  for  its  spokesman  ;  and  as  he  could  by  no 
possibility  be  elected  into  the  convention,  the  chief  scene  of 
the  opposition  could  only  be  the  legislature.* 

In  January  1788  the  senate  unanimously  voted  thanks  to 
the  members  from  their  state  in  the  federal  convention  for 
their  faithfulness.  On  the  sixteenth,  in  the  committee  of  the 
whole  house  of  representatives,  Charles  Pinckney  gave  a  his- 

*  Washington  to  the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette,  28  May  1*788. 

f  Jefferson  to  Shippen,  14  July  1783.     "Mr.  Henry  disseminated  propositions 
there  for  a  southern  confederacy." 

X  Madison  to  Washington,  10  April  1788.     Works,  i.,  384,  885. 

*  Madison,  i.,  382  ;  Elliot,  iv.,  274. 


1788.         THE   CONSTITUTIOiT  IN"  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  415 

tor  J*  of  the  formation  and  tlie  character  of  "the  federal  re- 
public ; "  which  was  to  operate  upon  the  people  and  not  upon 
the  states.  At  once  Lowndes  f  objected  that  the  interests  of 
South  Carolina  were  endangered  by  the  clause  in  the  constitu- 
tion according  to  which  a  treaty  to  be  made  by  two  thirds  of 
the  senate,  and  a  president  who  w^as  not  likely  ever  to  be  chosen 
from  South  Carolina  or  Georgia,  would  be  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land.  Cotesworth  Pinckney  condemned  the  reasoning  as 
disingenuous.  "Every  treaty,"  said  John  Kutledge,  "is  law 
paramount  and  must  operate,"  not  less  under  the  confederation 
than  under  the  constitution,  f  "If  treaties  are  not  superior  to 
local  laws,"  asked  Kamsay,  "who  will  trust  them?"  Lowndes 
proceeded,  saying  of  the  confederation :  "  We  are  now  under 
a  most  excellent  constitution — a  blessing  from  heaven,  that 
has  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  given  us  liberty  and  independ- 
ence ;  yet  we  are  impatient  to  pull  down  that  fabric  w^hich  we 
raised  at  the  expense  of  our  blood."  *  Now,  Eawlins  Lowndes 
had  pertinaciously  resisted  the  declaration  of  independence ;  and 
when,  in  1778,  South  Carolina  had  made  him  her  governor,  had 
in  her  reverses  sought  British  protection.  He  proceeded : 
"  When  this  new  constitution  shall  be  adopted,  the  sun  of  the 
southern  states  will  set,  never  to  rise  again.  AVhat  cause  is 
there  for  jealousy  of  our  importing  negroes  ?  Why  confine  us 
to  twenty  years  ?  Why  limit  us  at  all  ?  This  trade  can  be 
justified  on  the  principles  of  religion  and  humanity.  They 
do  not  like  our  slaves  because  they  have  none  themselves,  and, 
therefore,  v^ant  to  exclude  us  from  this  great  advantage."  ] 

"  Every  state,"  interposed  Pendleton,  "  has  prohibited  the 
importation  of  negroes  except  Georgia  and  the  two  Carolinas." 

Lowndes  continued:  "Without  negroes  this  state  would 
degenerate  into  one  of  the  most  contemptible  in  the  union, 
l^egroes  are  our  wealth,  our  only  natural  resource ;  yet  our 
kind  friends  in  the  ISTorth  are  determined  soon  to  tie  up  our 
hands  and  drain  us  of  w^hat  we  have." 

"  Against  the  restrictions  that  might  be  laid  on  the  African 
trade  after  the  year  1808,"  said  Cotesworth  Pinckney  on  the 

*  Elliot,  iv.,  253-263.  t  Elliot,  iv.,  267,  268. 

f  Elliot,  iv.,  265,  266.  *  Elliot,  iv.,  270-272. 

I  Elliot,  iv..  272. 


416     THE  STATES  EATIFY  THE  CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  i\r. 

seventeentli,  "  jour  delegates  had  to  contend  with  the  reh'gious 
and  political  prejudices  of  the  eastern  and  middle  states,  and 
with  the  interested  and  inconsistent  opinion  of  Virginia.  It 
was  alleged  that  slaves  increase  the  weakness  of  any  state 
which  admits  them ;  that  an  invading  enemy  could  easily  turn 
them  against  ourselves  and  the  neighboring  states ;  and  tliat, 
as  we  are  allowed  a  representation  for  them,  our  injfluence  in 
government  would  be  increased  in  proportion  as  we  were  less 
able  to  defend  ourselves.  '  Show  some  period,'  said  the  mem- 
bers from  the  eastern  states,  '  when  it  may  be  in  our  power 
to  put  a  stop,  if  we  please,  to  the  importation  of  this  weakness, 
and  we  will  endeavor,  for  your  convenience,  to  restrain  the  re- 
ligious and  political  prejudices  of  our  people  on  this  subject.' 
The  middle  states  and  Virginia  made  us  no  such  proposition  ; 
they  were  for  an  immediate  and  total  prohibition.  A  com- 
mittee of  the  states  was  appointed  in  order  to  accommodate 
this  matter,  and,  after  a  great  deal  of  difficulty,  it  was  settled 
on  the  footing  recited  in  the  constitution. 

"  By  this  settlement  we  have  secured  an  unlimited  impor- 
tation of  negroes  for  twenty  years.  The  general  government 
can  never  emancipate  them,  for  no  such  authority  is  granted, 
and  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  general  government 
has  no  powers  but  what  are  expressly  granted  by  the  consti- 
tution. We  have  obtained  a  right  to  recover  our  slaves  in 
whatever  part  of  America  they  may  take  refuge,  which  is  a 
right  we  had  not  before.  In  short,  considering  all  circum- 
stances, we  have  made  the  best  terms  in  our  power  for  the 
security  of  this  species  of  property.  "We  would  have  made 
better  if  we  could ;  but,  on  the  whole,  I  do  not  think  them 
bad."  * 

"  Six  of  the  seven  eastern  states,"  continued  Lowndes, 
"  form  a  majority  in  the  house  of  representatives.  Their  inter- 
est will  so  predominate  as  to  divest  us  of  any  pretensions  to 
the  title  of  a  republic.  They  draw  their  subsistence,  in  a  great 
measure,  from  their  shipping ;  the  regulation  of  our  commerce 
throws  into  their  hands  the  carrying  trade  under  payment  of 
whatever  freightage  they  think  proper  to  impose.  Why 
should  the  southern  states  allow  this  without  the  consent  of 

*  Elliot,  iv.,  277-286. 


,1788.         THE  CON-STITUTION"  IN"  SOUTH  OAEOLIN-A.  417 

nine  states  ?  If  at  any  future  period  we  should  remonstrate, 
'  mind  your  business '  will  be  the  style  of  language  held  out 
toward  the  southern  states."  "The  fears  that  the  northern 
interests  will  prevail  at  all  times,"  said  Edward  Kutledge,  "  are 
ill-founded.  Carry  your  views  into  futurity.  Several  of  the 
northern  states  are  already  full  of  people ;  the  migrations  to 
the  South  are  immense ;  in  a  few  years  we  shall  rise  high  in 
our  representation,  while  other  states  will  keep  their  present 
position."  * 

The  argument  of  Lowndes  rested  on  the  idea  that  the 
southern  states  are  weak.  "  We  are  weak,"  answered  Cotes- 
worth  Piuckney ;  "  by  ourselves  we  cannot  form  a  union  strong 
enough  for  the  purpose  of  effectually  protecting  each  other. 
Without  union  with  the  other  states,  South  Carolina  must  soon 
fall.  Is  there  any  one  among  us  so  much  a  Quixote  as  to  sup- 
pose that  this  state  could  long  maintain  her  independence  if 
she  stood  alone,  or  was  only  connected  w^ith  the  southern  states  ? 
I  scarcely  believe  there  is.  As,  from  the  nature  of  our  climate 
and  the  fewness  of  our  inhabitants,  we  are  undoubtedly  weak, 
should  we  not  endeavor  to  form  a  close  union  with  the  eastern 
states,  who  are  strong  ?  We  certainly  ought  to  endeavor  to 
increase  that  species  of  strength  which  will  render  them  of 
most  service  to  us  both  in  peace  and  war.  I  mean  their  navy. 
Justice  to  them  and  humanity,  interest  and  policy,  concur  in 
prevailing  upon  us  to  submit  the  regulation  of  commerce  to 
the  general  government.f 

Lowndes  renewed  his  eulogy  on  the  old  confederation. 
"  The  men  who  signed  it  were  eminent  for  patriotism  and  vir- 
tue ;  and  their  wisdom  and  prudence  particularly  appear  in 
their  care  sacredly  to  guarantee  the  sovereignty  of  each  state. 
The  treaty  of  peace  expressly  agreed  to  acknowledge  us  free, 
sovereign,  and  independent  states  ;  but  this  new  constitution, 
being  sovereign  over  all,  sweeps  those  privileges  away."  X 

Cotesworth  Pinckney  answered :  "  We  were  independent 
before  the  treaty,  which  does  not  grant,  but  acknowledges  our 
independence.  We  ought  to  date  that  blessing  from  an  older 
charter  than  the  treaty  of  peace ;  from  a  charter  which  our 

*  Elliot,  iv.,  272,  274,  276,  277,  288. 
I  Elliot,  iv.,  283,  284.  X  Elliot,  iv.,  287. 

VOL.  VI.— 27 


4:18     THE  STATES  EATIFY  THE  CONSTITUTIOIT.  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  iv. 

babes  should  be  taught  to  lisp  in  their  cradles ;  which  our  youth 
should  learn  as  a  carmen  necessarium^  an  indispensable  lesson ; 
which  our  young  men  should  regard  as  their  compact  of  free- 
dom ;  and  which  our  old  should  repeat  with  ejaculations  of 
gratitude  for  the  bounties  it  is  about  to  bestow  on  their  pos- 
terity. I  mean  the  declaration  of  independence,  made  in  con- 
gress the  4th  of  July  17TG.  This  manifesto,  which  for  impor- 
tance of  matter  and  elegance  of  composition  stands  unrivalled, 
confutes  the  doctrine  of  the  individual  sovereignty  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  several  states.  The  separate  independence  and 
individual  sovereignty  of  the  several  states  were  never  thought 
of  by  the  enlightened  band  of  patriots  who  framed  this  decla- 
ration. The  several  states  are  not  even  mentioned  by  name  in 
any  part  of  it ;  as  if  to  impress  on  America  that  our  freedom 
and  independence  arose  from  our  union,  and  that  without  it 
we  could  neither  be  free  nor  independent.  Let  us,  then,  con- 
sider all  attempts  to  weaken  this  miion  by  maintaining  that 
each  state  is  separately  and  individually  independent,  as  a  spe- 
cies of  political  heresy  which  can  never  benefit  us,  but  may 
bring  on  us  the  most  serious  distresses."  "^ 

Lowndes  sought  to  rally  to  his  side  the  friends  of  paper 
money,  and  asked  triumphantly  :  "  What  harm  has  paper 
money  done  ? "  "  What  harm  ? "  retorted  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney.  "  Beyond  losses  by  depreciation,  paper  money  has  cor- 
rupted the  morals  of  the  people ;  has  diverted  them  from  the 
paths  of  honest  industry  to  the  ways  of  ruinous  speculation ; 
has  destroyed  both  public  and  private  credit ;  and  has  brought 
total  ruin  on  numberless  widows  and  orphans."  f 

James  Lincoln  of  Ninety-six  pressed  the  objection  that 
the  constitution  contained  no  bill  of  rights.  Cotesworth  Pinck- 
ney  answered :  "  ^y  delegating  express  powers,  w^e  certainly 
reserve  to  ourselves  every  power  and  right  not  mentioned  in 
the  constitution.  Another  reason  weighed  particularly  with 
the  members  from  this  state.  Bills  of  rights  generally  begin 
with  declaring  that  all  men  are  by  nature  born  free.  Now,  we 
should  make  that  declaration  with  a  very  bad  grace  when  a 
large  part  of  our  property  consists  in  men  who  are  actually 
born  slaves."  X 

*  ElUot,  iv.,  301,  302.  f  Elliot,  iv.,  306.  %  Elliot,  iv.,  315,  316. 


1788.         THE   CONSTITUTION^  IN   SOUTH   CAROLINA.  419 

Lowndes,  following  the  lead  of  the  opposition  of  Virginia, 
had  recommended  another  convention  in  which  every  objection 
could  be  met  on  fair  giounds,  and  adequate  remedies  applied.* 
The  proposal  found  no  acceptance  ;  but  he  persevered  in  cavil- 
ling and  objecting.  At  last  John  Rutledge  impatiently  ex- 
pressed a  hope  that  Lowndes  would  find  a  seat  in  the  coming 
convention,  and  pledged  himself  there  to  prove  that  all  those 
grounds  on  which  he  dwelt  amounted  to  no  more  than  mere 
declamation  ;  that  his  boasted  confederation  was  not  worth  a 
farthing ;  that  if  such  instruments  were  piled  up  to  his  chin 
they  would  not  shield  him  from  one  single  national  calamity  ; 
that  the  sun  of  this  state,  so  far  from  being  obscured  by  the  new 
constitution,  would,  when  united  with  twelve  other  suns,  aston- 
ish the  world  by  its  lustre."  f 

The  resolution  for  a  convention  to  consider  the  constitution 
Was  unanimously  adopted.  In  the  rivalry  between  Charleston 
and  Columbia  as  its  place  of  meeting,  Charleston  carried  the 
day  by  a  majority  of  one  vote.  :j: 

The  purest  spirit  of  patriotism  and  union  and  veneration 
for  the  men  of  the  revolution  pervaded  South  Carohna  at  the 
time  of  her  choice  of  delegates.  Foremost  among  them  were 
the  venerable  Christopher  Gadsden  and  John  llutledge,  Moul- 
trie and  Motte,  William  Washington,  Edward  Rutledge,  the 
three  Pincloieys,  Grimke,  and  Ramsay  ;  the  chancellor  and 
the  leading  judges  of  the  state ;  men  chiefly  of  English,  Scotch, 
Scotch-Irishj  and  Huguenot  descent ;  a  thorough  representation 
of  the  best  elements  and  culture  of  South  Carolina. 

The  convention  organized  itself  on  the  thirteenth  of  May, 
with  Thomas  Pinckney,  then  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  as 
president.  The  ablest  man  in  the  opposition  was  Edanus 
Burke ;  but  the  leader  in  support  of  the  Virginia  malcontents 
was  Sumter.  A  week's  quiet  consideration  of  the  constitu- 
tion by  paragraphs  showed  the  disposition  of  the  convention, 
when  on  the  twenty-first  Sumter,  as  a  last  effort  of  those  w^ho 
wished  to  act  with  Virginia,  made  a  motion  for  an  adjourn- 
ment for  five  months,  to  give  time  for  the  further  considera- 
tion of  the  federal  convention.  A  few  gave  way  to  the  hope 
of  conciliating  by  moderation ;  but  after  debate  the  motion 

*  Elliot,  iv.,  290.  f  Elliot,  iv.,  312.  X  Elliot,  iv.,  316,  317. 


d:20      THE  STATES  RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION.  B.iy.;oH.iv. 

received  only  eighty-nine  votes  against  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five.  Three  or  four  amendments  were  recommended;  and 
then,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  twenty-third,  the 
constitution  was  ratified  by  one  hundred  and  forty-nine  votes 
against  seventy-three — more  than  two  to  one.*  As  the  count 
was  declared,  the  dense  crowd  in  attendance,  carried  away  by 
a  wild  transport  of  joy,  shook  the  air  with  their  cheers. 

When  order  was  restored,  the  aged  Christopher  Gadsden 
said :  "  I  can  have  but  little  expectation  of  seeing  the  happy 
effects  that  will  result  to  my  country  from  the  wise  decisions  of 
this  day,  but  I  shall  say  with  good  old  Simeon :  Lord,  now 
lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have 
seen  the  salvation  of  my  country."  f 

The  delegates  of  South  Carolina  to  the  federal  convention 
received  a  vote  of  thanks.  Those  in  the  opposition  promised 
as  good  citizens  to  accept  the  result.  In  1765  South  Carolina 
was  one  of  the  nine  states  to  meet  in  convention  for  resistance 
to  the  stamp-act ;  and  now  she  was  the  eighth  state  of  the  nine 
required  for  the  adoption  of  the  constitution. 

When  the  astonishing  tidings  reached  IN'ew  Hampshire,  her 
people  grew  restless  to  be  the  state  yet  needed  to  assure  the 
new  bond  of  union ;  but  for  that  palm  she  must  run  a  race 
with  Yirginia. 

*  Elliot,  iv.,  318,  338-340.  f  Penn.  Packet,  14  June  1788. 


1735-1786.      THE  NAVIGATION  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.         421 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

the  constitution  in  virginia  and  in  new  hampshire. 

From  May  1785  to  25  June  1788. 

From  Yirginia  proceeded  the  soutliern  opposition  to  the 
consolidation  of  the  union.  A  strife  in  congress,  in  which  tlie 
North  was  too  much  in  the  wrong  to  succeed,  united  the  five 
southernmost  states  together  in  a  struggle  which  endangered 
the  constitution. 

In  May  1785,  Diego  Gardoqui  arrived,  charged  with  the 
afEairs  of  Spain,  and  seemingly  empowered  to  fix  the  respect- 
ive limits  and  adjust  other  points  *  between  two  countries 
which  bordered  on  each  other  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  head- 
spring of  the  Mississippi.  On  the  twentieth  of  July  1785 
congress  invested  Secretary  Jay  with  full  powers  to  negotiate 
with  Gardoquijf  instructing  him,  however,  previous  to  his 
making  or  agreeing  to  any  proposition,  to  communicate  it  to 
congress.  The  commission  was  executed,  and  negotiations  im- 
mediately began.  Jay  held  the  friendship  of  Spain  most  de- 
sirable as  a  neighbor ;  as  a  force  that  could  protect  the  United 
States  from  the  piracies  of  the  Barbary  powers  and  conciliate 
the  good-will  of  Portugal  and  Italy  ;  as  a  restraint  on  the  in- 
fluence of  France  and  of  Great  Britain ;  and  as  the  ruler  of 
dominions  of  which  the  trade  offered  tempting  advantages. 
He  therefore  proposed  that  the  United  States,  as  the  price  of  a 
treaty  of  reciprocity  in  commerce,  should  forego  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Mississippi  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years. 

On  the  third  of  August  1786,  Jay  appeared  before  congress 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  vi.,  81-97.     Secret  Journals,  iii.,  669,  570. 
f  Secret  Journals,  iii.,  568-570. 


422     THE  STATES   RATIFY   THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  it.  ;  ch.  v. 

and  read  an  elaborate  paper,  in  whicli  lie  endeavored  to  prove 
that  the  experiment  was  worth  trying.*  The  proposal  sacrificed 
a  vitally  important  right  of  one  part  of  the  union  to  a  commer- 
cial interest  of  another ;  yet  the  instruction  which  made  the 
right  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  an  ultimatum  in 
any  treaty  with  Spain  was,  after  three  wrecks'  reflection,  re- 
pealed by  a  vote  of  seven  northern  states  against  Maryland 
and  all  south  of  it. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  August,  Secretary  Jay  was  enjoined 
in  his  plan  of  a  treaty  with  the  king  of  Spain  to  stipulate  the 
right  of  the  United  States  to  their  territorial  bounds,  and  the 
free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  from  its  source  to  the  ocean 
as  established  in  their  treaties  with  Great  Britain ;  and  neither 
to  conclude  nor  to  sign  any  treaty  with  the  Spanish  agent  until 
he  should  have  communicated  it  to  congress  and  received  their 
approbation,  f 

The  members  of  the  southern  states  were  profoundly 
alarmed.  On  the  twenty-eighth  Charles  Pinckney,  supported 
by  Carrington,  in  their  distrust  of  Jay,  sought  to  transfer  the 
negotiation  to  Madrid;  but  in  vain.  The  delegates  of  Vir- 
ginia, Grayson  at  their  head,  strove  to  separate  the  commer- 
cial questions  from  those  on  boundaries  and  navigation.  "  The 
surrender  or  proposed  forbearance  of  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi,"  they  said,  "is  inadmissible  upon  the  principle  of 
the  right,  and  upon  the  highest  principles  of  national  ex- 
pedience. In  the  present  state  of  the  powers  of  congress,  every 
wise  statesman  should  pursue  a  system  of  conduct  to  gain  the 
confidence  of  the  several  states  in  the  federal  council,  and 
thereby  an  extension  of  its  powers.  This  act  is  a  dismember- 
ment of  the  government.  Can  the  United  States  then  dismem- 
ber the  government  by  a  treaty  of  commerce?  But  Jay, 
supported  by  the  North,  persisted,  if 

Monroe  still  loyally  retained  his  desire  that  the  regulation! 
of  commerce  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  United  States,  and! 
his  opinion  that  without  that  power  the  union  would  infalliblyj 
tumble  to  pieces  ;  but  now  he  looked  about  him  for  means  to 
strengthen  the  position  of  his  own  section  of  the  country  ;  and 

*  Diplomatic  Correspondence,  vi.,  177.  f  Secret  Journals,  iii.,  686. 

I  Secret  Journals,  iv.,  87-110. 


1786-1788.        THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  VIRGINIA.  423 

to  Madison  on  the  third  of  September  he  wrote  :  "  1  earnestly 
wish  the  admission  of  a  few  additional  states  into  tlie  confed- 
eracy in  the  southern  scale."  *  "  There  is  danger,"  reported 
Otto  to  Yergennes, t  "that  the  discussion  may  become  the 
germ  of  a  separation  of  the  southern  states."  Murmurs  arose 
that  plans  were  forming  in  New  York  for  dismembering  the 
confederacy  and  throwing  New  York  and  New  England  into 
one  government,  with  the  addition,  if  possible,  of  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania.  "  Even  should  the  measure  triumph  under 
the  patronage  of  nine  states  or  even  the  whole  thirteen,"  wrote 
Madison  in  October,  "it  is  not  expedient  because  it  is  not 
just."  :j:  The  next  legislature  of  Virginia  unanimously  re- 
solved "  that  nature  had  given  the  Mississippi  to  the  United 
States,  that  the  sacrifice  of  it  would  violate  justice,  contravene 
the  end  of  the  federal  government,  and  destroy  confidence  in 
the  federal  councils  necessary  to  a  proper  enlargement  of  their 
authority." 

The  plan  could  not  succeed,  for  it  never  had  the  consent 
of  Spain ;  and  if  it  should  be  formed  into  a  treaty,  the  treaty 
could  never  obtain  votes  enough  for  its  ratification.  In  the 
new  congress.  New  Jersey  left  the  North ;  Pennsylvania,  of 
which  a  large  part  lay  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  became  equally 
divided ;  and  Rhode  Island  began  to  doubt.  But  already 
many  of  Virginia's  ''  most  federal "  statesmen  were  extremely 
disturbed ;  Patrick  Henry,  who  had  hitherto  been  the  cham- 
pion of  the  federal  cause,  refused  to  attend  the  federal  conven- 
tion that  he  might  remain  free  to  combat  its  result ;  and  an 
uncontrollable  spirit  of  distrust  drove  Kentucky  to  listen  to 
Eichard  Henry  Lee,  and  imperilled  the  new  constitution. 

The  people  of  Virginia,  whose  undisputed  territory  had 
ample  harbors  convenient  to  the  ocean,  and  no  western  limit 
but  the  Mississippi,  had  never  aspired  to  form  a  separate  re- 
public. They  had  deliberately  surrendered  their  claim  to  the 
north-west  territory ;  and  true  to  the  idea  that  a  state  should 
not  be  too  large  for  the  convenience  of  home  rule,  they  sec- 
onded the  desire  of  Kentucky  to  become  a  commonwealth  by 
itself.     The  opinion  of  Washington  that  the  constitution  would 

*  Monroe  to  Madison,  3  September  1786. 

f  Otto  to  Vergennes,  10  September  1786.  |  MaJison,  i.,  250. 


424     THE  STATES  KATIFY  THE  COi^STITUTIOl^.  b.  iv.  ;  oh.  v. 

be  adopted  by  Yirginia  was  not  shaken.*  Relieved  from  anx- 
iety at  borne,  be  found  time  to  watcb  tbe  gathering  clouds  of 
revolution  in  Europe,  and  shaped  in  bis  own  mind  the  foreign 
policy  of  tbe  republic.  His  conclusions,  which  on  New  Year's 
day  1788  he  confided  to  Jefferson,  his  future  adviser  on  the 
foreign  relations  of  tbe  country,  were  in  substance  precisely  as 
follows :  Tbe  American  revolution  has  spread  through  Europe 
a  better  knowledge  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  the  privileges  of 
the  people,  and  tbe  principles  of  Hberty  than  has  existed  in 
any  former  period ;  a  war  in  that  quarter  is  likely  to  be  kin- 
dled, especially  between  France  and  England ;  in  tbe  impend- 
ing struggle  an  energetic  general  government  must  prevent 
the  several  states  from  involving  themselves  in  tbe  political 
disputes  of  the  European  powers.  Tbe  situation  of  the  United 
States  is  such  as  makes  it  not  only  unnecessary  but  extremely 
imprudent  for  them  to  take  part  in  foreign  quarrels.  Let 
them  wisely  and  properly  improve  tbe  advantages  which  na- 
ture has  given  them,  and  conduct  themselves  with  circum- 
spection. By  that  policy,  and  by  giving  security  to  property 
and  liberty,  they  will  become  tbe  asylum  of  the  peaceful,  the 
industrious,  and  the  wealthy  from  all  parts  of  tbe  civilized 
world.f 

lN"or  did  Washington  cease  bis  vigilant  activity  to  confirm 
Yirginia  in  federal  opinions.  Especially  to  Edmund  Ran- 
dolph, then  governor  of  Yirginia  and  in  the  height  of  bis  pop- 
ularity, be  addressed  himself:):  with  convincing  earnestness, 
and  yet  with  a  delicacy  that  seemed  to  leave  the  mind  of  Ran- 
dolph to  its  own  workings. 

Madison,  likewise,  kept  up  with  Randolph  a  most  friendly 
and  persuasive  correspondence.  As  a  natural  consequence, 
the  governor,  who  began  to  see  tbe  impossibility  of  obtaining 
amendments  without  endangering  the  success  of  the  constitu- 
tion, soon  planted  himself  among  its  defenders ;  while  Monroe, 
leaving  his  inconsistency  unexplained,  was  drawn  toward  the 
adversaries  of  Madison. 

*  Washington  to  Lafayette,  10  January  1788. 

f  Washin!]cton  to  Jefferson,  1  January  1788.     Compare  Washington  to  Knox, 
10  January  1788.     MS. 

X  Washington  to  Edmund  Randolph,  8  January  1788.     Sparks,  ix.,  297. 


1788.  THE  COISrSTITUTION  IN  VIRGINIA.  425 

The  example  of  Massacliusetts  had  great  influence  by  its 
recommendation  of  amendments ;  and  still  more  by  the  avowed 
determination  of  the  defeated  party  honestly  to  support  the 
decision  of  tlie  majority.  But  while  the  more  moderate  of  the 
malcontents  "  appeared  to  be  preparing  for  a  decent  sub- 
mission," and  even  Eichard  Henry  Lee  set  bounds  to  his  op- 
position,* the  language  of  Henry  was  :  "  The  other  states  can- 
not do  without  Virginia,  and  we  can  dictate  to  them  what 
terms  we  please."  "  His  plans  extended  contingently  even  to 
foreign  alliances."  f 

The  report  from  the  federal  convention  agitated  the  people 
more  than  any  subject  since  the  first  days  of  the  revolution, 
and  with  a  greater  division  of  opinion.  :j:  It  was  remarked  that 
while  in  the  seven  northern  states  the  principal  ofiicers  of  gov- 
ernment and  largest  holders  of  property,  the  judges  and  law- 
yers, the  clergy  and  men  of  letters,  were  almost  without  ex- 
ception devoted  to  the  constitution,  in  Virgin ia  the  bar  and 
the  men  of  the  most  culture  and  property  were  divided.  In 
Yirginia,  too,  where  the  mass  of  the  people,  though  accus- 
tomed to  be  guided  by  their  favorite  statesmen  on  all  new  and 
intricate  questions,  now,  on  a  question  which  surjDassed  all 
others  in  novelty  and  intricacy,  broke  away  from  their  lead 
and  followed  a  mysterious  and  prophetic  influence  T7hich  rose 
from  the  heart.  The  phenomenon  w^as  the  more  wonderful^ 
as  all  the  adversaries  of  the  new  constitution  justified  their  op-'^ 
position  on  the  ground  of  danger  to  the  liberties  of  the  people.*. 
And  over  all  discussions,  in  private  or  in  public,  there  hovered 
the  idea  that  "Washington  was  to  lead  the  country  safely  along 
the  untrodden  path. 

In  the  time  preceding  the  election  the  men  of  Kentucky 
were  made  to  fear  the  surrender  of  the  Mississippi  by  the 
federal  government ;  and  the  Baptists,  the  reunion  of  church 
and  state.  11     The  election  of  Madison  to  the  convention  was 


*  Compare  Cyrus  Griffin  to  Thomas  Fitzsimons,  15  February  1*788. 
f  Carrington  to  Madison,  18  January  1788. 

it  Monroe  to  Madison,  13  October  1787. 

*  Madison,  i.,  365,  366. 

I  James  Madison,  Sr.,  to  his  son,  30  January  1788  ;  Scrapie's  Baptists  in 
Virginia,  76,  77. 


426      THE  STATES  KATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  it.  ;  ch.  v. 

held  to  be  indispensable.*  "  lie  will  be  the  main  pillar  of  the 
constitution,"  thought  Jefferson ;  "  but  though  an  immensely 
powerful  one,  it  is  questionable  whether  he  can  bear  the  weight 
of  such  a  host."  f  But  the  plan  for  a  southern  confederacy 
was  crushed  by  the  fidelity  of  South  Carolina ;  and  Washing- 
ton, who  had  foreseen  the  issue,  cheered  Madison  on  with  good 
words :  "  Eight  affirmatives  without  a  negative  carry  weight 
of  argument  if  not  eloquence  with  it  that  would  cause  even 
*  the  unerring  sister '  to  hesitate."  :j: 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the  convention  a 
quorum  was  present  in  Hichmond.  It  was  auspicious  that  Ed- 
mund Pendleton,  the  chancellor,  was  unanimously  chosen  its 
president.  The  building  which  would  hold  the  most  listeners 
was  made  the  place  of  meeting,  but  Henry  was  alarmed  at  the 
presence  of  short-hand  reporters  from  the  Philadelphia  press, 
as  he  wished  "  to  speak  the  language  of  his  soul "  *  without  the 
reserve  of  circumspection.  During  the  period  of  the  confedera- 
tion, which  had  existed  but  Kttle  more  than  seven  years,  it  had 
become  known  that  slavery  and  its  industrial  results  divided 
the  South  from  the  North ;  and  this  conviction  exercised  a  sub- 
tle influence. 

George  Mason,  following  the  advice  of  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  II  and  the  precedent  of  Massachusetts,  proposed  that  no 
question  relating  to  the  constitution  should  be  propounded 
until  it  should  have  been  discussed  clause  by  clause ;  and  this 
was  acquiesced  in  unanimously.  The  debates  which  ensued 
cannot  be  followed  in  the  order  of  time,  for  Henry  broke 
through  every  rule ;  but  an  outline  must  be  given  of  those 
which  foreshadowed  the  future. 

Patrick  Henry  dashed  instantly  into  the  battle,  saying: 
"  The  constitution  is  a  severance  of  the  confederacy.  Its  lan- 
guage, '  "We  the  people,'  is  the  institution  of  one  great  con- 
solidated national  government  of  the  people  of  all  the  states,  in- 
stead of  a  government  by  cr>mpact  with  the  states  for  its  agents. 
The  people  gave  the  convention  no  power  to  use  their  name."  '^ 

*  Washington  in  Rives,  ii.,  54Y. 

f  Jefferson,  Randolph's  ed.,  ii.,  270 ;  in  Rives,  ii.,  558. 

t  Washington  to  Sladison,  2  May  1788.  *  Penn.  Packet,  12  June  1788. 

II  R.  H.  Lee  to  G.  Mason,  7  May  1788.     Life  of  R.  H.  L.,  ii.,  89. 

^  Elliot,  iii.,  21-23. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTIOiT  IN   VIRGINIA.  427 

"The  question,"  said  Ttandol]3li,  "is  now  between  union 
and  no  union,  and  I  would  sooner  lop  off  mj  right  arm  than 
consent  to  a  dissolution  of  the  union."  ^^  "  It  is  a  national 
government,"  said  George  Mason,  losing  Ids  self-control  and 
becoming  inconsistent.  "It  is  ascertained  by  history  that  there  . 
never  was  one  government  ever  a  very  extencive  country' p 
without  destroying  the  liberties  of  the  people.  The  power  of 
laying  direct  taxes  changes  the  confederation.  The  general 
government  being  paramount  and  more  powerful,  the  state 
governments  must  give  way  to  it ;  and  a  general  consolidated 
government  is  one  of  the  worst  curses  that  can  befall  a  nation."  f 

"  There  is  no  quarrel  between  government  and  liberty," 
said  Pendleton ;  "  the  former  is  the  shield  and  protector  of  the 
latter.  The  expression  '  We  the  people '  is  a  common  one,  and 
with  me  is  a  favorite.  Who  but  the  people  can  delegate  pow- 
ers, or  have  a  right  to  form  government  ?  The  question  must 
be  between  this  government  and  the  confederation ;  the  latter 
is  no  government  at  all.  Common  danger,  union,  and  the 
spirit  of  America  carried  us  through  the  war,  and  not  the  con- 
federation of  which  the  moment  of  peace  showed  the  imbecility. 
Government,  to  be  effectual,  must  have  complete  powers,  aA 
legislature,  a  judiciary,  and  executive,  l^o  gentleman  in  this 
committee  would  agree  to  vest  these  three  powers  in  one  body.  * 
The  proposed  government  is  not  a  consolidated  government. 
It  is  on  the  whole  complexion  of  it  a  government  of  laws  and 
not  of  men."  J 

Madison  explained  at  large  that  the  constitution  is  in  part  a 
consolidated  union,  and  in  part  rests  so  completely  on  the 
states  that  its  very  life  is  bound  up  in  theirs.  And  on  another 
day  he  added ;  "  The  powers  vested  in  the  proposed  govern- 
ment are  not  so  much  an  augmentation  of  powers  in  the  general 
government  as  a  change  rendered  necessary  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  efficacy  to  those  which  were  vested  in  it  before."  * 

The  opposition  set  no  bounds  to  their  eulogy  of  the  British 
constitution  as  compared  with  the  proposed  one  for  America. 
"  The  wisdom  of  the  English  constitution,"  said  Monroe,  "  has 
given  a  share  of  the  legislation  to  each  of  the  three  branches, 

*  Elliot,  Hi.,  25-26.  f  Elliot.,  iii.,  29-33.  X  Elliot,  iii.,  35-41. 

#  Elliot,  iii.,  86-97,  and  259. 


4:28      THE   STATES  RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  en.  v. 

which  enables  it  to  defend  itself  and  to  preserve  the  liberty  of  the 
X,  people.  In  the  plan  for  America  I  can  see  no  real  checks."  * 
"  We  have  not  materials  in  this  country,"  said  Grayson,  "  for 
such  a  government  as  the  British  monarchy ;  but  I  would  have 
a  president  for  life,  choosing  his  successor  at  the  same  time  ;  a 
senate  for  life,  with  the  powers  of  the  house  of  lords ;  and  a 
triennial  house  of  representatives,  with  the  powers  of  the  house 
of  commons  in  England."  f  "  How  natural  it  is,"  said  Henry, 
"  when  comparing  deformities  to  beauty,  to  be  stnick  with  the 
superiority  of  the  British  government  to  the  proposed  system. 
In  England  self-love,  seK-interest  stimulates  the  executive  to 
advance  the  prosperity  of  the  nation.  Men  cannot  be  depended 
on  without  self-love.  Your  president  will  not  have  the  same 
motives  of  self-love  to  impel  ]iim  to  favor  your  interests.  His 
poHtical  character  is  but  transient.  In  the  British  government 
/  the  sword  and  purse  are  not  united  in  the  same  hands ;  in  this 
system  they  are.  Does  not  infinite  security  result  from  a  sepa- 
ration? "J 

Madison  on  the  fourteenth  replied :  "  There  never  was, 
there  never  will  be,  an  efficient  government  in  which  both  the 
sword  and  purse  are  not  vested,  though  they  may  not  be  given 
to  the  same  member  of  government.  The  sword  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  British  king ;  the  purse  in  the  hands  of  the  par- 
liament. It  is  so  in  America,  as  far  as  any  analogy  can  exist. 
When  power  is  necessary  and  can  be  safely  lodged,  reason 
commands  its  cession.  From  the  first  moment  that  my  mind 
was  capable  of  contemplating  political  subjects  I  have  had  a 
uniform  zeal  for  a  well-regulated  republican  government.  Tlie 
estabhshment  of  it  in  America  is  my  most  ardent  desire.  If 
the  bands  of  the  government  be  relaxed,  anarchy  will  produce 
despotism.  Faction  and  confusion  preceded  the  revolutions  in 
Germany ;  faction  and  confusion  produced  the  disorders  and 
commotions  of  Holland.  In  this  commonwealth,  and  in  every 
state  in  the  union,  the  relaxed  operation  of  the  government 
has  been  sufficient  to  alarm  the  friends  of  their  country.  The 
rapid  increase  of  population  strongly  calls  for  a  republican  or- 
ganization. There  is  more  responsibility  in  the  proposed  gov- 
ernment than  in  the  English.     Our  representatives  are  chosen 

*  Elliot,  iii.,  218,  219.  f  Elliot,  iii.,  2V9.  X  Elliot,  iii.,  387,  388. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  VIKGINIA.  429 

for  two  years,  in  England  for  seven.  Any  citizen  may  "be  elected 
here ;  in  Great  Britain  no  one  without  an  estate  of  the  annual 
value  of  six  hundred  pounds  sterling  can  represent  a  county ; 
nor  a  corporation  without  half  as  much.  If  confidence  be  due 
to  the  government  there,  it  is  due  tenfold  here."  * 

Against  the  judiciary  as  constituted  by  the  constitution 
Henry  on  the  twentieth  exceeded  himself  in  vehemence,  find- 
ing dangers  to  the  state  courts  by  the  number  of  its  tribunals, 
by  appellate  jurisdictions,  controversies  between  a  state  and 
the  citizens  of  another  state ;  dangers  to  the  trial  by  jury ;  dan- 
gers springing  out  of  the  clause  against  the  impairment  of  the 
obligations  of  a  contract. 

On  the  same  day  Marshall,  following  able  speakers  on  the 
same  side,  summed  up  the  defence  of  the  judiciary  system  : 
"  Tribunals  for  the  decisions  of  controversies,  which  were  be- 
fore either  not  at  all  or  improperly  provided  for,  are  here  ap- 
pointed. Federal  courts  will  determine  causes  with  the  same 
fairness  and  impartiality  as  the  state  courts.  The  federal 
judges  are  chosen  with  equal  wisdom,  and  they  are  equally  or 
more  independent.  The  power  of  creating  a  number  of  courts 
is  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  this  system.  The  jurisdiction 
of  the  judiciary  has  its  limit.  The  United  States  court  cannot 
extend  to  everything,  since,  if  the  United  States  were  to  make 
a  law  not  warranted  by  any  of  the  enumerated  powers,  the 
judges  would  consider  it  as  an  infringement  of  the  constitu- 
tion. The  state  courts  are  crowded  with  suits  ;  if  some  of 
them  should  be  carried  to  a  federal  court,  the  state  courts  will 
still  have  business  enough.  To  the  judiciary  you  must  look 
for  protection  from  an  infringement  on  the  constitution.  ]^o 
other  body  can  afford  it.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  federal  courts 
over  disputes  between  a  state  and  the  citizens  of  another  state 
has  been  decried  with  unusual  vehemence.  There  is  a  diffi- 
culty in  making  a  state  defendant  which  does  not  prevent  its 
being  plaintiff.  It  is  not  rational  to  suppose  that  the  sovereign 
power  should  be  dragged  before  a  court.  The  intent  is  to  ena- 
ble states  to  recover  claims  against  individuals  residing  in  other 
states.     This  construction  is  warranted  by  the  words." 

On  the  clause  relating  to  impairing  the  obligation  of  con- 

*  Elliot,  iii.,  393-395. 


430      THE  STATES  RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION",  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  v. 

tracts,  Marshall  said  tliis :  ''  A  suit  instituted  in  tlie  federal 
courts  bj  the  citizens  of  one  state  against  the  citizens  of  another 
state  will  be  instituted  in  the  court  where  the  defendant  resides, 
and  will  be  determined  bj  the  laws  of  the  state  where  the  con- 
tract was  made.  The  laws  which  govern  the  contract  at  its 
formation  govern  it  at  its  decision.  Whether  this  man  or  that 
man  succeeds  is  to  the  government  all  one  thing.  Congress 
is  empowered  to  make  exceptions  to  the  appellate  jurisdiction 
of  the  supreme  court,  both  as  to  law  and  as  to  fact ;  and  these 
exceptions  certainly  go  as  far  as  the  legislature  may  think 
proper  for  the  interest  and  liberty  of  the  people."  * 

The  planters  of  Virginia  were  indebted  to  British  mer- 
chants to  the  amount  of  ten  millions  of  dollars ;  and  the  Yir- 
ginid  legislature,  under  tlie  influence  of  Henry,  had  withheld 
from  these  creditors  the  right  to  sue  in  the  courts  of  Virginia 
until  England  should  have  fulfilled  her  part  of  the  treaty  of 
peace  by  surrendering  the  western  posts  and  by  making  com- 
pensation for  slaves  that  had  been  carried  away  ;  he  now  cen- 
sured the  federal  constitution  for  granting  in  the  case  retro- 
spective jurisdiction.  Marshall  replied  :  "  There  is  a  difference 
between  a  tribunal  which  shall  give  effect  to  an  existing  right, 
and  creating  a  right  that  did  not  exist  before.  The  debt  or 
claim  is  created  by  the  individual ;  a  creation  of  a  new  court 
does  not  amount  to  a  retrospective  law."  f 

Questions  as  to  the  powers  which  it  would  be  wise  to  grant 
to  the  general  government,  and  as  to  the  powers  which  had 
been  granted,  dividod  the  convention.  The  decision  of  Mary- 
land and  South  Carolina  dashed  the  hope  of  proselyting  Vir- 
ginia to  propose  a  separate  southern  confederacy ;  but  Henry 
on  the  ninth  still  said  :  "  Compared  with  the  consolidation  of 
one  power  to  reign  with  a  strong  hand  over  so  extensive  a 
country  as  this  is,  small  confederacies  are  little  evils.  Virginia 
and  N"orth  Carolina  could  exist  separated  from  the  rest  of 
America."  :j:  But  he  limited  himself  to  proposing  that  Vir- 
ginia, "  the  greatest  and  most  mighty  state  in  the  union,"  * 
followed  by  North  Carolina  and  by  New  York,  which  state  he 
announced  as  being  in  high  opposition,  ||  should  hold  the  con- 

*  Elli  )t,  iii.,  551-560.  f  Elliot,  iii.,  539,  546,  561. 

t  Elliot,  iii.,  161.  «  Elliot,  iii.,  142.  B  Elliot,  iii.,  157,  183. 


1788.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  VIRGINIA.  431 

stitution  in  suspense  until  they  liad  compelled  the  other  states 
to  adopt  the  amendments  on  which  she  should  insist.  He  cited 
Jefferson  as  advising  "  to  reject  the  government  till  it  should 
be  amended."  *  Randolph  interpreted  the  letter  which  Henry 
had  cited,  as  the  expression  of  a  strong  desire  that  the  govern- 
ment might  be  adopted  by  nine  states  with  Virginia  for  one 
of  the  nine ;  f  and  two  days  later  Pendleton  cited  from  the 
same  letter  the  words  that  "  a  schism  in  our  union  would  be 
an  incurable  evil." :{: 

On  the  eleventh  and  the  seventeenth  Mason  introduced  a 
new  theme,  saying:  "Under  the  royal  government  the  im- 
portation of  slaves  was  looked  upon  as  a  great  oppression ;  but 
the  African  merchants  prevented  the  many  attempts  at  its 
prohibition.  It  was  one  of  the  great  causes  of  our  separation 
from  Great  Britain.  Its  exclusion  has  been  a  principal  object 
of  this  state  and  most  of  the  states  in  this  union.  The  aug- 
mentation of  slaves  weakens  the  states.  Such  a  trade  is  dia- 
bolical in  itself  and  disgraceful  to  mankind ;  yet  by  this  con- 
stitution it  is  continued  for  tw^enty  years.  Much  as  I  value  a 
union  of  all  the  states,  I  would  not  admit  the  southern  states 
into  the  union  unless  they  agree  to  its  discontinuance.  And 
there  is  no  clause  in  this  constitution  to  secure  the  property  of 
that  kind  which  w^e  have  acquired  under  our  former  laws,  and 
of  which  the  loss  would  bring  ruin  on  a  great  many  people ; 
for  such  a  tax  may  be  laid  as  will  amount  to  manumission."  * 

Madison  equally  abhorred  the  slave-trade  ;  but  on  the  seven- 
teenth answered,  after  reflection  and  with  reserve  :  "  The  gen- 
tlemen of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  argued,  '  By  hindering 
us  from  importing  this  species  of  property  the  slaves  of  Yir- 
ginia  will  rise  in  value,  and  we  shall  be  obliged  to  go  to  your 
markets.'  I  need  not  expatiate  on  this  subject ;  great  as  the  evil 
is,  a  dismemberment  of  the  union  would  be  worse.  Under  the 
articles  of  confederation  the  traffic  might  be  continued  forever ; 
by  this  clause  an  end  may  be  put  to  it  after  twenty  years. 
From  the  mode  of  representation  and  taxation,  congress  can- 
not lay  such  a  tax  on  slaves  as  will  amount  to  manumission. 
At  present,  if  any  slave  elopes  to  any  of  those  states  where 

*  Elliot,  lii.,  152.  t  Elliot,  ill.,  304. 

f  Elliot,  ill.,  200.  #  Elliot,  iii.,  270,  452. 


1 


432      THE   STATES  KATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION".  b.iv.;ch.v. 

slaves  are  free,  lie  becomes  emancipated  by  their  laws ;  in  this 
constitution  a  clause  was  expressly  inserted  to  enable  owners 
of  slaves  to  reclaim  them." 

Tyler  supported  Madison,  speaking  at  large  and  with 
warmth :  "  This  wicked  traffic  is  impolitic,  iniquitous,  and  dis- 
graceful. It  was  one  cause  of  the  complaints  against  British 
tyranny ;  nothing  can  justify  its  revival.  But  for  this  tem- 
porary restriction,  congress  could  have  prohibited  the  African 
trade.  My  earnest  desire  is  that  it  should  be  handed  down  to 
posterity,  that  I  have  opposed  this  wicked  clause."  * 

On  the  twenty-fourth  Henry  raised  a  new  cry  on  the  dan- 
ger of  emancipation :  "  The  great  object  of  national  govern- 
ment is  national  defence ;  the  northern  states  may  call  forth 
every  national  resource ;  and  congress  may  say,  '  Every  black 
man  must  fight.'  In  the  last  war  acts  of  assembly  set  free 
every  slave  who  would  go  into  the  army.  Slavery  is  detested ; 
we  feel  its  fatal  effects ;  we  deplore  it  with  all  the  pity  of  hu- 
manity. Let  that  urbanity  which  I  trust  will  distinguish 
Americans,  and  the  necessity  of  national  defence,  operate  on 
their  minds ;  they  have  the  power,  in  clear,  unequivocal  terms, 
to  pronounce  all  slaves  free,  and  they  will  certainly  exercise 
the  power.  Much  as  I  deplore  slavery,  I  see  that  the  general 
government  ought  not  to  set  the  slaves  free ;  for  the  major- 
ity of  congress  is  to  the  North  and  the  slaves  are  to  the 
South."  t 

The  governor  of  Virginia  first  showed  that  the  constitution 
itself  did  not,  even  in  the  opinion  of  South  Carolina,  menace 
enfranchisement ;  and  thus  proceeded  :  "  I  hope  that  there  is 
no  one  here  who,  considering  the  subject  in  the  calm  light  of 
philosophy,  will  advance  an  objection  dishonorable  to  Virginia ; 
that,  at  the  moment  they  are  securing  the  rights  of  their  citi- 
zens, there  is  a  spark  of  hope  that  those  unfortunate  men  now 
held  in  bondage  may,  by  the  operation  of  the  general  govern- 
ment, be  made  free."  J 

The  representative  from  Augusta  county,  Zachariah  John- 
son, complained  that  the  bill  of  rights  which  the  convention 
was  preparing  as  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  did  not  ac- 
knowledge that  all  men  are  by  nature  equally  free  and  inde- 

*  Elliot,  Hi.,  453,  454,  455.  f  Elliot,  iil.,  590.  t  Elliot,  iii.,  598. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  VIRGINIA.  433 

pendent.  "  Gentlemen  tell  ns,"  he  said,  "  that  they  see  a  pro- 
gressive danger  of  bringing  about  emancipation.  The  total 
aboHtion  of  slavery  would  do  much  good.  The  principle  has 
begun  since  the  revolution.  Let  us  do  what  we  may,  it  will 
come  round."  * 

To  the  declamations  of  Henry  that  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution would  be  the  renunciation  of  the  right  to  navigate  the 
Mississippi,  Madison,  on  the  twelfth,  after  a  candid  relation  of 
what  had  transpired  in  congress,  and  giving  the  information 
that  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  were  now  strenuous  against 
even  any  temporary  cession  of  the  navigation  of  that  river, 
made  the  further  irrefragable  reply  :  "  The  free  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi  is  our  right.  The  confederation  is  so  weak 
that  it  has  not  formed,  and  cannot  form,  a  treaty  which  will 
secure  to  us  the  actual  enjoyment  of  it.  Under  an  efficient 
government  alone  shall  we  be  able  to  avail  ourselves  fully  of 
our  right.  The  new  government  will  have  more  strength  to 
enforce  it."  "  Should  the  constitution  be  adopted,"  said  Mon- 
roe on  the  thirteenth,  "  the  northern  states  will  not  fail  to  re- 
linquish the  Mississippi  in  order  to  depress  the  western  country 
and  prevent  the  southern  interest  from  preponderating."  f 
"  To  preserve  the  balance  of  American  power,"  continued 
Henry,  "  it  is  essentially  necessary  that  the  right  of  the  Missis- 
sippi should  be  secured,  or  the  South  will  ever  be  a  contempti- 
ble minority."  J 

"  This  contest  of  the  Mississippi,"  said  Grayson  on  the  four- 
teenth, "  is  a  contest  for  empire,  in  which  Virginia,  Kentucky, 
the  southern  states  are  deeply  interested.  It  involves  this 
great  national  question,  whether  one  part  of  the  continent  shall 
govern  the  other.  From  the  extent  of  territory  and  fertility 
of  soil,  God  and  nature  have  intended  that  the  weight  of  popu- 
lation should  be  on  the  southern  side.  At  present,  for  various 
reasons,  it  is  on  the  other.  If  the  Mississippi  be  shut  up,  emi- 
grations will  be  stopped  entirely ;  no  new  states  will  be  formed 
on  the  western  waters ;  and  this  government  will  be  a  govern- 
ment of  seven  states."  #  To  the  last  Grayson  said :  "  The 
seven  states,  which  are  a  majority,  being  actually  in  possession, 

*  Elliot,  iii.,  648.  ,  %  Elliot,  iii.,  352. 

f  Elliot,  iii.,  340.  «  Elliot,  iii.,  365,  366. 

VOL.   TI. — 28 


434  THE   STATES  RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION 

will  never  admit  any  soutliern  state  into  the  union  so  as  to  lose 
that  majority."  '^ 

The  power  of  the  government  to  establish  a  navigation  act 
by  a  bare  majority  was  bitterly  complained  of  by  George  Ma- 
son ;  t  by  Grayson,  who  complained  that  the  interests  of  the 
carrying  states  would  govern  the  producing  states ;  :j:  by  Tyler, 
who  mourned  over  his  own  act  in  having  proposed  to  cede  the 
regulation  of  commerce  to  the  confederation,  since  it  had  led 
to  the  grant  of  powers  too  dangerous  to  be  trusted  to  any 
set  of  men  whatsoever.^  Complaint  was  further  made  that 
treaties  were  to  go  into  effect  without  regard  to  the  opin- 
ion of  the  house  of  representatives ;  and  especially  that  there 
was  no  bill  of  rights,  and  that  there  was  no  explicit  reserva- 
tion of  powers  not  delegated  to  the  general  government.  In 
some  parts  of  the  country  the  settlers  were  made  to  dread  a 
resuscitation  of  old  land  companies  through  the  federal  judi- 
ciary. 

The  prohibition  on  the  states  to  issue  paper  money  weighed 
on  the  minds  of  the  debtor  class ;  but  it  was  not  much  dis- 
cussed, for  on  that  point  George  Mason  and  Kichard  Henry 
Lee  were  the  great  leaders  in  favor  of  the  suppression  of  paper 
money  "  as  founded  upon  fraud  and  knavery."  ||  And  Mason 
had  forced  the  assembly  of  Virginia  in  their  last  session  to 
adopt  a  series  of  resolutions  declaring  that  paper  currency 
created  scarcity  of  real  money,  and  substituted  for  the  real 
standard  of  value  a  standard  variable  as  the  commodities  them- 
selves, ruining  trade  and  commerce,  weakening  the  morals 
of  the  people,  destroying  public  and  private  credit  and  all  faith 
between  man  and  man,  and  aggravating  the  very  evils  which 
it  was  intended  to  remedy.^  And  yet  there  were  those  in  the 
convention  whose  votes  were  swayed  by  the  consideration  that, 
if  the  constitution  should  be  established,  there  would  be  an  end 
of  inconvertible  bills  of  credit  forever.  But  that  which  af- 
fected the  decision  more  than  anything  else  was  that  the  con- 
stitution would  bring  with  it  to  British  creditors  a  right  to 

*  Elliot,  iii.,  585.  f  Elliot,  iii.,  604. 

t  Elliot,  iii.,  616.  *  Elliot,  iii.,  640,  641. 

II  George  Mason  to  ^Ya3llington,  6  November  lYSYjin  Letters  to  G.  W.,  iv.,  190, 

^  Independent  Gazetteer,  17  November  1*787. 


1788.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  VIRGINIA.  435 

recover  tlirongli  the  federal  courts  claims  on  Virginia  planters 
for  about  ten  millions  of  dollars. 

The  discussions  had  been  temperately  conducted  till  just 
at  the  last,  when  for  a  moment  pretending  that  the  acceptance 
of  the  constitution  would  make  an  end  of  the  trial  bj  jury, 
Henry  said,  on  the  twentieth  :  "  Old  as  I  am,  it  is  probable  I 
may  yet  have  the  appellation  of  rebel.  But  my  neighbors 
will  protect  me."  *  This  daring  drew  out  the  reply  that 
Virginia  would  be  in  arms  to  support  the  constitution  ;  and 
on  the  twenty-fifth  James  Innes  of  Williamsburg,  quoting 
against  him  his  own  words,  said  :  "  I  observe  with  regret  a 
general  spirit  of  jealousy  with  respect  to  our  northern  brethren. 
If  we  had  had  it  in  1Y75  it  would  have  prevented  that  unani- 
mous resistance  which  triumphed  over  our  enemies ;  it  was  not 
a  Yirginian,  a  Carolinian,  a  Pennsylvanian,  but  the  glorious 
name  of  an  American,  that  extended  from  one  end  of  the  con- 
tinent to  the  other."  f  But  the  feeling  was  soon  pacified,  and 
the  last  words  of  Henry  himself  were  :  "If  I  shall  be  in  the 
minority,  I  shall  yet  be  a  peaceable  citizen,  my  head,  my  hand, 
and  my  heart  being  at  liberty  to  remove  the  defects  of  the 
system  in  a  constitutional  way."  J  The  last  word  was  from 
the  governor  of  Yirginia ;  "  The  accession  of  eight  states  re- 
duces our  deliberations  to  the  single  question  of  union  or  no 
union."  ^ 

For  more  than  three  weeks  the  foes  of  the  constitution  had 
kept  up  the  onset,  and  day  after  day  they  had  been  beaten 
back  as  cavalry  that  tries  in  vain  to  break  the  ranks  of  in- 
fantry. For  more  than  three  weeks  Henry  and  Grayson  and 
Mason  renewed  the  onslaught,  feebly  supported  by  Monroe, 
and  greatly  aided  by  the  weight  of  character  of  Benjamin 
Harrison  and  John  Tyler ;  day  by  day  they  were  triumphantly 
encountered  by  Madison,  on  whom  the  defence  of  the  con- 
stitution mainly  rested;  by  Pendleton,  who,  in  spite  of  in- 
creased infirmities,  was  moved  even  more  deeply  than  in  the 
beginning  of  the  revolution  ;  and  by  the  popular  eloquence  of 
Kandolph.     These  three   champions   were  well   seconded  by 

*  Elliot,  iii.,  546.  t  Elliot,  iii.,  652. 

f  Elliot,  iii.,  633.  *  Ibid. 


436      THE  STATES   RATIFY  THE  CONSTITUTION,  b.  iv.  ;  ch.  v. 

George  ^Nicholas,  Jolin  Marshall,  James  Innes,  Ilenrj  Lee, 
and  Francis  Corbin.* 

On  the  twentj-fif th,  after  debates  for  three  weeks,  the  mal- 
contents had  no  heart  for  further  resistance.  The  convention 
was  willing  to  recommend  a  bill  of  rights  in  twenty  sections, 
with  twenty  other  more  questionable  amendments.  The  first 
motion  was :  ''  Ought  the  declaration  of  rights  and  amend- 
ments of  the  constitution  to  be  referred  by  this  convention  to 
the  other  states  in  the  American  confederacy  for  their  con- 
sideration previous  to  the  ratification  of  the  new  constitution 
of  government  ? "  It  was  lost,  having  only  eighty  voices 
against  eighty-eight.  Then  the  main  question  was  put,  that 
the  constitution  be  ratified,  referring  all  amendments  to  the 
first  congress  under  the  constitution.  The  decision  would  be 
momentous,  not  for  America  only,  but  the  whole  world. 
"Without  Virginia,  this  great  country  would  have  been  shivered 
into  fragmentary  confederacies,  or  separate  independent  states. 

The  roll  was  called ;  and  eighty-nine  delegates,  chiefly  from 
the  cities  of  Richmond  and  Williamsburg,  from  counties  near 
the  ocean,  from  the  northern  neck,  from  the  north-western 
border  counties,  and  from  the  counties  between  the  Blue  Ridge 
and  the  Alleghanies,  voted  for  the  constitution.  Seventy-nine, 
mainly  from  other  central  and  southern  border  counties,  and 
from  three  fourths  of  the  counties  of  Kentucky,  cried  'No. 

The  committee  for  reporting  the  form  of  ratification  were 
Randolph,  JSTicholas,  Madison,  Marshall,  and  Corbin — all  from 
among  the  stanchest  supporters  of  the  constitution. 

In  the  form  which  was  adopted  they  connected  with  the 
ratification  "  a  few  declaratory  truths  not  affecting  the  validity 
of  the  act ; "  f  and  shielded  the  rights  of  the  states  by  the  as- 
sertion *'  that  every  power  not  granted  by  the  constitution  re- 
mains for  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  at  their  will."  :j: 

After  the  vote  was  taken,  the  successful  party  were  careful 
not  to  ruffle  their  opponents  by  exultation.  Henry  showed  his 
genial  nature,  free  from  all  malignity.  He  was  like  a  billow 
of  the  ocean  on  the  first  bright  day  after  the  storm,  dashing 
itself  against  the  rocky  cliff,  and  then,  sparkling  with  light,  re- 

*  Compare  Rives,  ii.,  561. 

f  Madison  to  Washington,  in  Rives,  ii.,  608.  if  Elliot,  iii.,  656. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN   VIPwGINIA.  437 

treating  to  its  home.  It  was  more  difficult  for  Mason  to  calm 
the  morbid  sensibility  of  his  nature  and  to  heal  his  sorrow  at 
having  abandoned  one  of  the  highest  places  of  honor  among 
the  fathers  of  the  constitution  which  he  had  done  so  much  to 
initiate,  to  form,  and  to  improve.  He  was  pacified  by  words 
from  Harrison  and  from  Tyler,  who  held  it  the  duty  of  good 
citizens  to  accept  the  decision  of  the  majority,  and  by  precept 
and  example  to  promote  harmony  and  order  and  union  among 
their  fellow-citizens.  But  that  which  did  most  to  soothe  the 
minority  was  their  trust  in  Washington.  "  For  the  president," 
said  Mason,  "  there  seldom  or  never  can  be  a  majority  in  favor 
of  one,  except  one  great  name,  who  wdll  be  unanimously  elect- 
ed." *  "  Were  it  not  for  one  great  character  in  America," 
said  Grayson,  "  so  many  men  would  not  be  for  this  govern- 
ment. We  do  not  fear  while  he  lives  ;  but  who  beside  him 
can  concentrate  the  confidence  and  affections  of  all  Amer- 
ica? "f  And  Monroe  reported  to  Jefferson:  "Be  assured, 
Washington's  influence  carried  this  government."  J 

Nor  was  that  influence  confined  to  Virginia  alone.  The 
country  was  an  instrument  with  thirteen  strings,  and  the  only 
master  who  could  bring  out  all  their  harmonious  thought  w^as 
Washington.  Had  he  not  attended  the  federal  convention,  its 
work  would  have  met  a  colder  reception  and  more  strenuous 
opponents.  Had  the  idea  prevailed  that  he  would  not  accept 
the  presidency,  it  would  still  have  proved  fatal.* 

Yirginia  lost  the  opportunity  of  being  the  ninth  state  to 
constitute  the  union.  While  the  long  winter  of  New  Hamp- 
shire intercepted  the  labors  of  husbandry,  the  fireside  of  the 
freeholders  in  its  hundreds  of  townships  became  the  scene  for 
discussing  the  merits  of  the  federal  constitution  with  tlie  dele- 
gates of  their  choice  and  with  one  another.  Their  convention 
reassembled  in  June.  Four  days  served  them  to  discuss  the 
constitution,  to  prepare  and  recommend  twelve  articles  of 
amendment,  and,  by  fifty-seven  voices  against  forty-six,  to 
ratify  the  constitution.  They  took  care  to  insert  in  their 
record  that  their  vote  w^as  taken  on  Saturday,  the  twenty-first 

*  Elliot,  iii.,  493;  and  compare  134.  |  Elliot,  iil.,  610. 
X  Monroe  to  Jefferson,  12  July  17S8. 

*  Life  of  Morris  by  Sparks,  i.,  289,  230. 


438      THE   STATES   RATIFY  THE   CONSTITUTION",  b.  iv. ;  on.  v. 

of  June,  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  that  Yirglnia  by  a 
vote  at  a  later  hour  of  the  same  day  might  not  dispute  with 
them  the  honor  of  giving  life  to  the  constitution.* 

Bj  their  decision,  accompanied  by  that  of  Virginia,  the 
United  States  of  America  came  formally  into  existence.  As 
the  glad  tidings  iiew  through  the  land,  the  heart  of  its  people 
thrilled  with  joy  that  at  last  the  tree  of  union  was  firmly 
planted.  Never  may  its  trunk  be  riven  by  the  lightning ;  nor 
its  branches  crash  each  other  in  the  maddening  storm ;  nor  its 
beauty  wither ;  nor  its  root  decay. 

*  Tobias  Lear  to  Washicgton,  22  June  1788.     Letters  to  "Washington,  iv.,  225. 


THE 


FORMATION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

OF   THE 

UITITED    STATES    OF    AMEEIOA 

m  FIVE  BOOKS. 

BOOK  FIFTH. 
THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT. 

June,  1787. 


^ 


CHAPTEK  I. 

THE   CONSTITUTION. 

1787. 

"  The  American  constitution  is  tlie  most  wonderful  T70rk 
ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by  the  brain  and  purpose  of 
man  ; "  but  it  bad  its  forerunners. 

England  bad  suffered  the  thirteen  colonies,  as  free  states, 
to  make  laws  each  for  itself  and  never  for  one  of  the  others ; 
and  had  established  their  union  in  a  tempered  subordination  to 
the  British  crown.  Among  the  many  guides  of  America, 
there  had  been  Winthrop  and  Cotton,  Hooker  and  Haynes, 
George  Fox  and  William  Penn,  Roger  Williams  and  John 
Clarke ;  scholars  of  Oxford  and  many  more  of  Cambridge ; 
Gustavus  Adolphus  and  Oxenstiern;  the  merchants  of  the 
United  Netherlands ;  Southampton  and  Baltimore,  with  the 
kindliest  influences  of  the  British  aristocracy ;  Shaftesbury 
with  Locke,  for  evil  as  well  as  for  good  ;  all  the  great  slave- 
traders  that  sat  on  thrones  or  were  fostered  by  parliament ;  and 
the  philanthropist  Oglethorpe,  who  founded  a  colony  exclu- 
sively of  the  free  on  a  territory  twice  as  large  as  France,  and 
though  he  had  to  mourn  at  the  overthrow  of  his  plans  for 
liberty,  lived  to  see  his  plantation  independent. 

There  were  other  precursors  of  the  federal  government; 
but  the  men  who  framed  it  followed  the  lead  of  no  theoretical 
writer  of  their  own  or  preceding  times.  They  harbored  no  de- 
sire of  revolution,  no  craving  after  untried  experiments.  They 
wrought  from  the  elements  which  were  at  hand,  and  shaped 
them  to  meet  the  new  exigencies  which  had  arisen.  The  least 
possible  reference  was  made  by  them  to  abstract  doctrines; 


44:2  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  ch.  i. 

tliej  moulded  their  design  by  a  creative  power  of  tlieir  own, 
but  nothing  was  introduced  that  did  not  already  exist,  or  was 
not  a  natural  development  of  a  well-known  principle.  The 
materials  for  building  the  American  constitution  were  the  gifts 
of  the  ages. 

Of  old,  the  family  was  the  rudiment  of  the  state.  Of  the 
Jews,  the  organization  was  by  tribes.  The  citizens  of  the  com- 
monwealths of  the  Hellenes  were  of  one  blood.  Among  the 
barbarous  tribes  of  the  fourth  continent,  the  governments  and 
the  confederacies  all  rested  on  consanguinity,  l^ations,  as  the 
word  implied,  were  but  large  communities  of  men  of  one  kin  ; 
and  nationalities  survive  to  this  day,  a  source  of  strength  in 
their  unity,  and  yet  of  strife  where  two  or  more  of  them  exist 
in  their  original  separateness  and  are  nevertheless  held  in  sub- 
jection under  one  ruler.  Rome  first  learned  to  cherish  the 
human  race  by  a  common  name  and  transform  the  vanquished 
into  citizens. 

The  process  of  assimilation  which  Eome  initiated  by  war 
received  its  perfect  development  in  the  land  where  the  Dutch 
and  the  Swedes,  and  in  the  country  north-west  of  the  Ohio  the 
French,  competed  in  planting  colonies  ;  where  the  English,  the 
L'ish,  the  Scotch  for  the  most  part  came  over  each  for  himself, 
never  reproducing  their  original  nationality  ;  and  where  from 
the  first  fugitives  from  persecution  of  all  nations  found  a  safe 
asylum.  Though  subjects  of  the  English  king,  all  were  pres- 
ent in  America  as  individuals. 

The  English  language  maintained  itself  without  a  rival,  not 
merely  because  those  speaking  it  as  their  mother  tongue  very 
greatly  outnumbered  all  others,  and  because  all  acknowledged 
English  supremacy ;  but  for  the  simplicity  of  its  structure ;  its 
logical  order  in  the  presentment  of  thought ;  its  suitableness 
for  the  purposes  of  every-day  life  ;  for  the  discussion  of  ab- 
stract truths  and  the  apprehension  of  Anglo-Saxon  political 
ideas ;  for  the  instrument  of  the  common  law  ;  for  science  and 
observation  ;  for  the  debates  of  public  life ;  for  every  kind  of 
poetry,  from  humor  to  pathos,  from  descriptions  of  nature  to 
the  action  of  the  heart  and  mind. 

But  tlie  distinctive  character  of  the  new  people  as  a  whole, 
their  nationahty,  so  to  say,  was  the  principle  of  individuality 


1T87.  THE   CONSTITUTION.  443 

wliicli  prevailed  among  tliem  as  it  had  nowhere  done  before. 
This  individuality  was  strengthened  by  the  straggles  with  'Na- 
ture  in  her  wildness,  by  the  remoteness  from  the  abodes  of  an- 
cient institutions,  by  the  war  against  the  traditions  of  absolute 
power  and  old  superstitions,  till  it  developed  itself  into  the 
most  perfect  liberty  in  thought  and  action ;  so  that  the  Ameri- 
can came  to  be  marked  by  tlio  readiest  versatility,  the  spirit  of 
enterprise,  and  the  faculty  of  invention.  In  the  declaration  of 
independence  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  called 
themselves  "  the  good  people  of  these  colonies."  The  states- 
men who  drew  the  law  of  citizenship  in  1776  made  no  distinc- 
tion of  nationalities,  or  tribes,  or  ranks,  or  occupations,  or  faith, 
or  wealth,  and  knew  only  inhabitants  bearing  allegiance  to  the 
governments  of  the  several  states  in  union. 

Again,  this  character  of  the  people  appeared  most  clearly 
in  the  joint  action  of  the  United  States  in  the  federal  conven- 
tion, where  the  variant  prejudices  that  still  clung  to  separate 
states  eliminated  each  other.  x 

The  constitution  establishes  nothing  that  interferes  with^ 
equality  and  individuality.  It  knows  nothing  of  differences 
by  descent,  or  opinions,  of  favored  classes,  or  legalized  religion, 
or  the  political  power  of  property.  It  leaves  the  individual 
alongside  of  the  individual.  No  nationality  of  character  could 
take  form,  except  on  the  principle  of  individuality,'so  that  the 
mind  might  be  free,  and  every  faculty  have  the  unlimited  op- 
portunity for  its  development  and  culture.  As  the  sea  is  made 
up  of  drops,  American  society  is  composed  of  separate,  free, 
and  constantly  moving  atoms,  ever  in  reciprocal  action,  advanc- 
ing, receding,  crossing,  struggling  against  each  other  and  with 
each  other ;  so  that  the  institutions  and  laws  of  the  country  rise 
out  of  the  masses  of  individual  thought,  which,  like  the  waters 
of  the  ocean,  are  rolling  evermore. 

The  rule  of  individuality  w^as  extended  as  never  before. 
The  synod  of  the  Presbyterians  of  E'ew  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, a  denomination  inflexibly  devoted  to  its  own  creed,  in 
their  pastoral  letter  of  May  1783,  published  their  joy  that "  the 
rights  of  conscience  are  inalienably  secured  and  interwoven 
with  the  very  constitutions  of  the  several  states."  Religion 
was  become  avowedly  the  attribute  of  man  and  not  of  a  cor- 


444:  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  b.v.,-ch.i. 

poration.  In  the  earliest  states  known  to  history,  government 
and  religion  were  one  and  indivisible.  Each  state  had  its 
special  deity,  and  of  these  protectors  one  after  another  might 
be  overthrown  in  battle,  never  to  rise  again.  The  Peloponne- 
sian  war  grew  ont  of  a  strife  about  an  oracle.  Eome,  as  it 
adopted  into  citizenship  those  whom  it  vanquished,  sometimes 
introduced,  and  with  good  logic  for  that  day,  the  worship  of 
their  gods.  No  one  thought  of  vindicating  liberty  of  religion 
for  the  conscience  of  the  individual  till  a  voice  in  Judea,  break- 
ing day  for  the  greatest  epoch  in  the  life  of  humanity  by  estab- 
lishing for  all  mankind  a  pure,  spiritual,  and  universal  religion, 
enjoined  to  render  to  Csesar  only  that  which  is  Csssar's.  The 
rule  was  upheld  during  the  infancy  of  this  gospel  for  all  men. 
Ko  sooner  was  the  religion  of  freedom  adopted  by  the  chief  of 
the  Homan  Empire,  than  it  was  shorn  of  its  character  of  uni- 
versality and  enthralled  by  an  unholy  connection  with  the  unholy 
state :  and  so  it  continued  till  the  new  nation — the  least  defiled 
with  the  barren  scoffings  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  most 
sincere  believer  in  Christianity  of  any  people  of  that  age,  the 
chief  heir  of  the  reformation  in  its  purest  form — when  it  came 
to  establish  a  government  for  the  United  States,  refused  to  treat 
faith  as  a  matter  to  be  regulated  by  a  corporate  body,  or  having 
a  headship  in  a  monarch  or  a  state. 

Vindicating  the  right  of  individuality  even  in  religion,  and 
in  religion  above  all,  the  new  nation  dared  to  set  the  example 
of  accepting  in  its  relations  to  God  the  principle  first  divinely 
ordained  in  Judea.  It  left  the  management  of  temporal  things 
to  the  temporal  power ;  but  the  American  constitution,  in  har- 
mony with  the  people  of  the  several  states,  withheld  from  the 
federal  government  the  power  to  invade  the  home  of  reason, 
the  citadel  of  conscience,  the  sanctuary  of  the  soul ;  and  not 
from  indifference,  but  that  the  infinite  spirit  <  »f  eternal  truth 
might  move  in  its  feedom  and  purity  and  power. 

With  this  perfect  individuality  extending  to  conscience, 
freedom  should  have  belonged  to  labor.  What  though  slavery 
existed  and  still  exists  in  the  older  states  known  to  history,  in 
Egypt,  in  China,  coming  down  continuously  from  an  unknown 
date  ;  what  though  Aristotle  knew  no  mode  of  instituting  a 
republican  household   but  with  a  slave ;  and   Julius  Caesar, 


irsr.  THE   CONSTITUTION".  445 

when  Italy  was  perisliing  by  the  vastness  of  its  slave  estates, 
crowded  tliem  witli  new  hordes  of  captives  ?  What  though 
the  slave-trade  was  greedily  continued  under  the  passionate 
encouragement  of  the  British  parliament,  and  that  in  nearly 
all  of  the  continent  of  Europe  slavery  in  some  of  its  forms 
prevailed  ?  In  America,  freedom  of  labor  was  the  moral  prin- 
ciple of  the  majority  of  the  people ;  was  established,  or  moving 
toward  immediate  establishment,  in  a  majority  of  the  states ; 
was  by  the  old  confederation,  with  the  promptest  and  oft- 
repeated  sanction  of  the  new  government,  irrevocably  ordained 
in  all  the  territory  for  which  the  United  States  could  at  that 
time  make  the  law.  The  federal  convention  could  not  inter- 
fere with  the  slave  laws  of  the  separate  states ;  but  it  was  care- 
ful to  impose  no  new  incapacitation  on  free  persons  of  color ; 
it  maintained  them  in  all  the  rights  of  equal  citizenship ;  it 
granted  those  rights  to  the  emancipated  slave ;  and  it  kept  to 
itself  the  authority  to  abolish  the  slave-trade  instantly  in  any  ter- 
ritory that  might  be  annexed ;  in  all  other  states  and  lands,  at 
the  earliest  moment  for  which  it  had  been  able  to  obtain  power. 
The  tripartite  division  of  government  into  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial,  enforced  in  theory  by  the  illustrious 
Montesquieu,  and  practiced  in  the  home  government  of  every 
one  of  the  American  states,  became  a  part  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  which  derived  their  mode  of  instituting 
it  from  their  own  happy  experience.  It  was  established  by 
the  federal  convention  with  a  rigid  consistency  that  went  be- 
yond the  example  of  Britain,  where  one  branch  of  the  legis- 
lature was  still  a  court  of  appeal.  Each  one  of  the  three  de- 
partments proceeded  from  the  people,  and  each  is  endowed 
with  all  the  authority  needed  for  its  just  activity.  The  presi- 
dent may  recommend  or  dissuade  from  enactments,  and  has  a 
limited  veto  on  them  ;  but  whatever  becomes  a  law  he  must 
execute.  The  power  of  the  legislature  to  enact  is  likewise  un- 
controlled except  by  the  paramount  law  of  the  constitution. 
The  judiciary  passes  upon  every  case  that  may  be  presented, 
and  its  decision  on  the  case  is  definitive  ;  but  without  further 
authority  over  the  executive  or  the  legislature,  for  the  conven- 
tion had  wisely  refused  to  make  the  judges  a  council  to  either 
of  them. 


446  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  b.v.;oh.i 

Tripartite  division  takes  place  not  only  in  tlie  threefold 
powers  of  government ;  it  is  established  as  the  mode  of  legis- 
lation. There,  too,  three  powers,  proceeding  from  the  people, 
must  concur,  except  in  cases  provided  for,  before  an  act  of 
legislation  can  take  place.  This  tripartite  division  in  the  power 
of  legislation — so  at  the  time  wrote  Madison,  so  thought  all  the 
great  builders  of  the  constitution,  so  asserted  John  Adams 
with  vehemence  and  sound  reasoning — is  absolutely  essential 
to  the  success  of  a  federal  republic  ;  for  if  all  legislative  pow- 
ers are  vested  in  one  man  or  in  one  assembly,  there  is  despot- 
ism ;  if  in  two  branches,  there  is  a  restless  antagonism  between 
the  two ;  if  they  are  distributed  among  three,  it  will  be  hard 
to  unite  two  of  them  in  a  fatal  strife  with  the  third.  But  tlie 
executive,  and  each  of  the  two  chambers,  must  be  so  chosen  as 
to  have  a  character  and  strength  and  popular  support  of  its 
own.  The  government  of  the  United  States  is  thoroughly  a 
government  of  the  people.  By  the  English  aristocratic  revo- 
lution of  1688,  made  after  the  failure  of  the  popular  attempt 
at  reform,  the  majority  of  the  house  of  commons  was  in  sub- 
stance composed  of  nominees  of  the  house  of  lords,  so  that  no 
ministry  could  prevail  in  it  except  by  the  power  of  that  house ; 
and  as  the  prime  minister  and  cabinet  depend  on  the  majority 
in  the  house  of  commons,  the  house  of  lords  directly  controlled 
the  government  not  only  in  its  own  branch  but  in  the  com- 
mons, and  through  the  commons  in  the  nomination  of  the  min- 
istry. All  three  branches  of  the  government  were  in  harmony, 
for  in  those  days,  before  the  house  of  commons  had  entered 
successfully  upon  its  long  struggle  for  reform  of  the  mode  of 
its  election,  all  three  branches  represented  the  aristocracy.  In 
the  United  States,  on  the  other  hand,  all  the  branches  of  power 
— president,  senators,  and  representatives — ^proceed  directly  or 
indirectly  from  the  people.  The  government  of  the  United 
States  is  a  government  by  the  people,  for  the  people. 

To  perfect  the  system  and  forever  prevent  revohition, 
power  is  reserved  to  the  people  by  amendments  of  their  con- 
stitution to  remove  every  imperfection  which  time  may  lay 
bare,  and  adapt  it  to  unforeseen  contingencies.  But  no  change 
can  be  hastily  made.  An  act  of  parliament  can  at  any  time 
alter  the  constitution  of  England;  no  similar  power  is  dele- 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION-.  447 

gated  to  the  congress  of  the  United  States,  which,  like  parlia- 
ment, may  be  swayed  by  the  shifting  majorities  of  party.  As 
to  the  initiation  of  amendments,  it  could  not  be  intrusted  to 
the  president,  lest  it  might  lead  him  to  initiate  changes  for  his 
own  advantage  ;  still  less  to  a  judiciary  holding  office  for  hfe, 
for,  such  is  human  nature,  a  tribunal  so  constituted  and  decid- 
ing by  a  majority,  by  whatever  political  party  its  members 
may  have  been  named,  cannot  safely  be  invested  with  so  tran- 
scendent a  power.  The  legislatures  of  the  states  or  of  the 
United  States  are  alone  allowed  to  open  the  "  constitutional 
door  to  amendments ; "  and  these  can  be  made  valid  only 
through  the  combined  intervention  of  the  state  legislatures 
and  of  congress,  or  a  convention  of  all  the  states  elected  ex- 
pressly for  the  purpose  by  the  people  of  the  several  states.  In 
this  way  no  change  of  the  constitution  can  be  made  in  haste  or 
by  stealth,  but  only  by  the  consent  of  three  quarters  of  the 
states  after  a  full  and  free  and  often-repeated  discussion. 
There  is  no  legal  road  to  amendment  of  the  constitution  but 
through  the  consent  of  the  people  given  in  the  form  prescribed 
by  law.  America,  being  charged  with  the  preservation  of  lib- 
erty, has  the  most  conservative  polity  in  the  world,  both  in  its 
government  and  in  its  people. 

The  new  nation  asserted  itself  as  a  continental  republic. 
The  discovery  was  made  that  the  time  had  passed  for  little 
commonwealths  of  a  single  city  and  its  environs.  The  great 
Frederick,  who  had  scoffed  at  the  idea  of  attempting  to  gov- 
ern an  imperial  domain  without  a  king,  was  hardly  in  his 
grave  when  a  commonwealth  of  more  than  twenty  degrees  in 
each  direction,  containing  from  the  iirst  an  area  six  or  seven 
times  as  large  as  the  whole  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  fifty 
or  sixty  times  as  great  as  the  Netherlands  or  Switzerland,  able 
to  include  more  than  a  thousand  confederacies  as  large  as  the 
Achaian,  and  ready  to  admit  adjoining  lands  to  fellowship, 
rose  up  in  the  best  part  of  the  temperate  zone  on  a  soil  that 
had  been  collecting  fertility  for  untold  centuries.  The  day  of 
the  Greek  commonwealth  had  passed  forever ;  and,  after  the 
establishment  of  the  representative  system,  it  was  made  known 
that  a  republican  government  thrives  best  in  a  vast  territory. 
Monarchy  had  held  itself  a  necessity  for  the  formation  of  large 


448  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  ch.  i. 

states ;  but  now  it  was  found  out  that  even  in  them  monarchy 
can  be  dispensed  with  ;  and  the  world  w^as  summoned  to  gaze 
at  the  spectacle  of  a  boundless  society  of  republican  states  in 
union. 

The  United  States  of  America  are  not  only  a  republic,  they 
are  "  a  society  of  societies,"  "  a  federal  republic."  *  Toward 
foreign  powers  the  country  has  no  seam  in  its  garment ;  it 
exists  in  absolute  unity  as  a  nation,  with  full  and  undisputed 
national  resources.  At  home  it  is  ''  a  union,"  or  ''one  out  of 
many ; "  ydthhi  its  own  sphere  supreme  and  self-supporting. 
For  this  end  it  has  its  own  legislature  to  make  enactments  ;  its 
own  functionaries  to  execute  them ;  its  own  courts ;  its  own 
treasury ;  and  it  alone  may  have  an  army  and  a  navy.  All- 
sufficient  powers  are  so  plainly  given  that  there  is  no  need  of 
striving  for  more  by  straining  the  words  in  which  they  are 
granted  beyond  their  plan  and  natural  import. 

The  constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States  made  in 
pursuance  of  it,  and  all  treaties  framed  by  their  authority,  are 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  binding  the  judges  in  every  state 
even  if  need  be  in  spite  of  the  constitution  and  the  laws  of  the 
state  ;  and  all  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  officers,  both 
of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  states,  are  to  be  sworn 
to  its  support.  The  constitution  provides  within  itself  for  the 
redress  of  every  wrong.  The  supreme  court  offers  relief  in  a 
"  case "  of  injustice  or  conflict  with  the  constitution ;  the 
remedy  for  a  bad  law  is  to  be  sought  through  the  freedom  and 
frequency  of  elections;  a  fault  in  the  constitution  by  its 
amendment. 

Except  for  the  powers  granted  to  the  federal  government, 
each  state  is  in  all  things  supreme,  not  by  grace,  but  of  right. 
The  United  States  may  not  interfere  with  any  ordinance  or  law 
that  begins  and  ends  within  a  state.  This  supremacy  of  the 
states  in  the  powers  which  have  not  been  granted  is  as  essen- 
tially a  paii;  of  the  system  as  the  supremacy  of  the  general 
government  in  its  sphere.  The  states  are  at  once  the  guard- 
ians of  the  domestic  security  and  the  happiness  of  the  in- 
dividual, and  they  are  the  parents,  the  protectors,  and  the  stay 
of  the  union.     The  states  and  the  United  States  are  members 

*  Words  used  by  Montesquieu,  Esprit  dcs  Lois,  livre  ix.,  cb.  i. 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION.  449 

of  one  great  whole  ;  and  the  one  is  as  needful  as  the  othsr. 
The  powers  of  government  are  not  divided  between  them ; 
they  are  distributed ;  so  that  there  need  be  no  collision  in  their 
exercise.  The  union  without  self -existent  states  is  a  harp  with- 
out strings ;  the  states  without  union  are  as  chords  that  are  un- 
strung. Bat  for  state  rights  the  union  would  perish  from  the 
paralysis  of  its  limbs.  The  states,  as  they  gave  life  to  the 
union,  are  necessary  to  the  continuance  of  that  life.  Within 
their  own  limits  they  are  the  guardians  of  industry,  of  proper- 
ty, of  personal  rights,  and  of  liberty.  But  state  rights  are  to 
be  defended  inside  of  the  union ;  not  from  an  outside  citadel 
from  which  the  union  may  be  struck  at  or  defied.  The  states 
and  the  United  States  are  not  antagonists ;  the  states  in  union 
form  the  federal  republic ;  and  the  system  can  have  life  and 
health  and  strength  and  beauty  only  by  their  harmonious  ac- 
tion. In  short,  the  constitution  knows  nothing  of  United 
States  alone,  or  states  alone  ;  it  adjusts  the  parts  harmoniously 
in  an  organized  unity.  Impair  the  relations  or  the  vigor  of 
any  part,  and  disease  enters  into  the  veins  of  the  whole.  That 
there  may  be  life  in  the  whole,  there  must  be  healthy  life  in 
every  part.  The  United  States  are  the  states  in  union  ;  these 
are  so  inwrought  into  the  constitution  that  the  one  cannot  per- 
ish without  the  other. 

Is  it  asked  who  is  the  sovereign  of  the  United  States^ 
The  words  "  sovereign  "  and  "  subjects  "  are  unknown  to  the 
constitution.  There  is  no  place  for  princes  with  unlimited\ 
power,  or  conquering  cities,  or  feudal  chiefs,  or  privileged  aris- 
tocracies, ruling  absolutely  with  their  correlative  vassals  or 
subjects. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  have  declared  in  their  con- 
stitution that  the  law  alone  is  supreme  ;  and  have  defined  that 
supreme  law.  Is  it  asked  who  are  the  people  of  the  United 
States  that  instituted  the  "  general  government "  ?  Tlie  fed- 
eral convention  and  the  constitution  answer,  that  it  is  the  con- 
curring people  of  the  several  states.  The  constitution  is  con- 
stantly on  its  guard  against  permitting  the  action  of  the 
aggregate  mass  as  a  unit,  lest  the  whole  people,  once  accus- 
tomed to  acting  together  as  an  individual,  might  forget  the 
existence  of  the  states,  and  the  states  now  in  union  succumb  to 

VOL.  VI. — 29 


450  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  ch.  i. 

eentrallzation  and  absolutism.  The  people  of  the  states  de- 
manded a  federal  convention  to  form  the  constitution ;  the 
congress  of  the  confederation,  voting  by  states,  authorized  that 
federal  convention ;  the  federal  convention,  voting  likewise  by 
states,  made  the  constitution ;  at  the  advice  of  the  federal  con- 
vention the  federal  congress  referred  that  constitution  severally 
to  the  people  of  each  state ;  and  by  their  united  voice  taken 
severally  it  was  made  the  binding  form  of  government.  The 
constitution,  as  it  owes  its  life  to  the  concurrent  act  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  several  states,  permits  no  method  of  amending  itself 
except  by  the  several  consent  of  the  people  of  the  states ;  and 
within  the  constitution  itself  the  president,  the  only  officer 
who  has  an  equal  relation  to  every  state  in  the  union,  is  elected 
not  by  the  aggregate  people  of  all  the  states,  but  by  the  sepa- 
rate action  of  the  people  of  the  several  states  according  to  the 
number  of  votes  allotted  to  each  of  them. 

Finally,  there  is  one  more  great  and  happy  feature  in  the 
constitution.  Eome,  in  annexing  the  cities  around  itself,  had 
not  given  them  equal  influence  with  itself  in  proportion  to 
their  wealth  and  numbers,  and  consequently  there  remained  a 
cause  of  dissatisfaction  never  healed.  America  has  provided 
for  admission  of  new  states  upon  equal  terms,  and  only  upon 
equal  terms,  with  the  old  ones. 

For  Europe  there  remained  the  sad  necessity  of  revolution. 
For  America  the  gates  of  revolution  are  shut  and  barred  and 
bolted  down,  never  again  to  be  thrown  open ;  for  it  has  found 
a  legal  and  a  peaceful  w^ay  to  introduce  every  amelioration. 
Peace  and  intercitizenship  and  perfect  domestic  free-trade  are 
to  know  no  end.  The  constitution  is  to  the  American  people 
a  possession  for  all  ages ;  it  creates  an  indissoluble  union  of  im- 
perishable states. 

The  federal  republic  will  carry  tranquillity,  and  freedom, 
and  order  throughout  its  vast  domain.  Will  it,  within  less 
than  a  century,  extend  its  limits  to  the  capes  of  Florida,  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  to  the  region  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
•to  California,  to  Oregon,  to  San  Juan  ?  Will  it  show  all  the 
Spanish  colonies  how  to  transform  themselves  into  independ- 
ent republics  stretching  along  the  Pacific  till  they  turn  Cape 
Horn  ?     Will  it  be  an  example  to  France,  teaching  its  great 


1787.  THE  CONSTITUTION.  45I 

benefactor  how  to  gain  free  institutions?  In  the  country 
from  which  it  broke  away  will  it  assist  the  hberal  statesmen  to 
bring  parliament  more  nearly  to  a  representation  of  the  peo- 
ple ?  Will  it  help  the  birthplace  of  the  reformation  to  gather 
together  its  scattered  members  and  become  once  more  an  em- 
pire, with  a  government  so  entirely  the  child  of  the  nation 
that  it  shall  have  but  one  hereditary  functionary,  with  a  fed- 
eral council  or  senate  representing  the  several  states,  and  a 
house  elected  directly  by  universal  suffrage?  Will  it  teach 
England  herself  how  to  give  peace  to  her  groups  of  colonies, 
her  greatest  achievement,  by  establishing  for  them  a  federal 
republican  dominion,  in  one  continent  at  least  if  not  in  more  ? 
And  will  America  send  manumitted  dark  men  home  to  their 
native  continent,  to  introduce  there  an  independent  republic 
and  missions  that  may  help  to  civilize  the  races  of  Africa? 

The  philosophy  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  was 
neither  that  of  optimism  nor  of  despair.  Believing  in  the 
justice  of  "the  Great  Governor  of  the  world,"  and  conscious 
of  their  own  honest  zeal  in  the  cause  of  freedom  and  mankind, 
they  looked  with  astonishment  at  their  present  success  and  at 
the  future  with  unclouded  hope. 


4.52  THE   FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  on.  ii. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE    LINGEKma    STATES. 

1787  TO  2  August  1788. 

When  the  constitution  was  referred  to  the  states  Hamilton 
revived  a  long-cherished  plan,  and,  obtaining  the  aid  of  Jay 
and  Madison,  issued  papers  which  he  called  The  Federalist,  to 
prepare  all  the  states  and  the  people  for  accepting  the  deter- 
minations of  the  federal  convention.  Of  its  eighty-five  num- 
bers. Jay  wrote  Hve,  Madison  twenty-nine,  and  Hamilton  fifty- 
one.*     They  form  a  work  of  enduring  interest,  because  they  are 

*  Mr.  Madison's  list  of  the  authors  of  The  Federalist : 
Number  1  by  A.  H.  No.  2,  J.  J.     No.  3,  J.  J.     No.  4,  J.  J.     No.  5,  J.  J. 

No.  6,  A.  U.    No.  7,  A.  H.     No.  8,  A.  II.     No.  9,  A.  II.     No.  10,  J.  M.  No.  1 1,  A.  H. 
No.  12,  A.  II.  No.  13,  A.  H.  No.  14,  J.  M.  No.  15,  A.  H.  No.  16,  A.  H.  No.  17,  A.  H. 

No.  18,  J.  M.  No.  19,  J.  M.  No.  20,  J.  M.  No.  21,  A.  II.  No.  22,  A.  II.  No.  23,  A.  H. 
No.  24,  A.  H.  No.  25,  A.  II.  No.  26,  A.  II,  No.  27,  A.  II.  No.  28,  A.  H.  No.  29,  A.  H. 
No.  30,  A.  H.  No.  31,  A.  H.  No.  32,  A.  H.  No.  33,  A.  IT.  No.  34,  A.  II.  No.  35,  A.  H. 
No.  36,  A.  H.  No.  37,  J.  M.  No.  38,  J.  M.  No.  89,  J.  M.  No.  40,  J.  M.  No.  41,  J.  M. 
No.  42,  J.  M.  No.  43,  J.  M.  No.  44,  J.  M.  No.  45,  J.  M.  No.  46,  J.  M.  No.  47,  J.  M. 
No.  48,  J.  M.  No.  49,  J.  M.  No.  50,  J.  M.  No.  51,  J.  M.  No.  52,  J.  M.  No.  53,  J.  M. 
No.  54,  J.  M.  No.  55,  J.  M.  No.  56,  J.  M.  No.  57,  J.  M.  No.  58,  J.  M.  No.  59,  A.  H. 
No.  60,  A.  IT.  No.  61,  A.  H.  No.  62,  J.  M.  No.  63,  J.  M.  No.  64,  J.  J.  No.  65,  A.  II. 
No.  66,  A.  H.  No.  67,  A.  II.  No.  68,  A.  II.  No.  69,  A.  II.  No.  7^,'A.  II.  No.  71,  A.  H. 
No.  72,  A.  IT,  No.  73,  A.  II.  No.  74,  A.  H.  No  75,  A.  H.  No.  76,  A.  H.  No.  77,  A.  II. 
No.  78,  A.  H.  No.  79,  A.  H.  No.  80,  A.  IT.,  and  to  the  end. 
Note  in  Mr.  Madisoii's  ovm  hand. 
"  No.  18  is  attributed  to  Mr.  Hamilton  and  Mr.  Madison  jointly.  A.  II.  had 
drawn  up  something  on  the  subjects  of  this  (No.  IS)  and  the  two  next  Ncs.  (19 
and  20).  On  finding  that  J.  M.  was  engaged  in  them  with  larger  materials,  and 
with  a  view  to  a  more  precise  delineation,  he  put  what  he  had  written  into  the 
hands  of  J.  M.  It  is  possible,  though  not  recollected,  that  something  in  the 
draught  may  have  been  incorporated  into  the  numbers  as  printed.  But  it  was 
certainly  not  of  a  nature  or  amount  to  affect  the  impression  left  on  the  mind  of 


1787-1788.  THE  FEDERALIST.  453 

the  earliest  commentary  on  tlie  new  experiment  of  mankind  in 
establishing  a  republican  government  for  a  country  of  bound- 
less dimensions  ;  and  were  written  by  Madison,  who  was  the 
chief  author  of  the  constitution,  and  Hamilton,  who  took  part 
in  its  inception  and  progress. 

Hamilton  dwelt  on  the  defects  of  the  confederation ;  the 
praiseworthy  energy  of  the  new  federal  government ;  its  rela- 
tions to  the  public  defence  ;  to  the  functions  of  the  executive ; 
to  the  judicial  department,  to  the  treasury ;  and  to  commerce. 
Himself  a  friend  to  the  protection  of  manufactures,  he  con- 
demned "  exorbitant  duties  on  imported  articles,"  because  they 
"  beget  smuggling,"  are  ''  always  prejudicial  to  the  fair  trader, 
and  eventually  to  the  revenue  itself ; "  tend  to  render  "  other 
classes  of  the  community  tributary  in  an  improper  degree  to 
the  manufacturing  classes,"  and  to  "give  them  a  premature 
monopoly  of  the  markets  ;  "  to  "  force  industry  out  of  its  most 
natural  channels,"  and  to  "  oppress  the  merchant."  * 

Madison  commented  with  severe  wisdom  on  its  plan ;  its 
conformity  to  republican  principles;  its  powers;  its  relation 
to  slavery  and  the  slave-trade ;  its  mediating  office  between  the 
union  and  the  states  ;  its  tripartite  separation  of  the  depart- 

J.  M.,  from  whose  pen  the  papers  went  to  the  press,  that  they  were  of  the  class 
written  by  him.  As  the  histoiical  materials  of  A.  II.,  as  far  as  they  went,  were 
doubtless  similar,  or  the  same  with  those  provided  by  J.  M.,  and  as  a  like  applica- 
tion of  them  probably  occurred  to  both,  an  impression  might  be  left  on  the  mind 
of  A.  H.  that  the  Nos.  in  question  were  written  jointly.  These  remarks  are  made 
as  well  to  account  for  a  statement  to  that  effect,  if  made  by  A.  H.,  as  in  justice  to 
J.  M.,  who,  always  regarding;  them  in  a  different  light,  had  so  stated  them  to  an 
inquiring  friend,  long  before  it  was  known  or  supposed  that  a  different  impres- 
sion existed  anywhere.  (Signed)  J.  M." 

There  exists  no  list  of  the  authors  of  The  Federalist  by  the  hand  of  Hamilton. 
There  exists  no  authentic  copy  of  any  list  that  may  liave  been  made  by  Hamilton. 
It  is  a  great  wrong  to  Hamilton's  memory  to  insist  that  he  claimed  the  authorship 
of  papers  which  were  written  for  him  at  his  request  by  another,  and  which  the 
completcst  evidence  proves  that  he  could  not  have  written.  The  list  of  the  au- 
thors of  the  several  papers  given  above  rests  on  the  written  authority  of  Madison. 
From  this  list  JIadison  has  never  been  known  to  vary  in  the  slightest  degree.  The 
correctness  of  his  statement  is  substantiated  beyond  room  for  a  cavil  by  various 
evidence.  Meeting  an  assertion  that  Madison  in  some  paper  in  the  department  of 
state  had  changed  one  figure  in  his  list,  I  requested  a  former  secretary  of  state 
to  order  a  search  to  be  made  for  it.  A  search  was  made,  and  no  such  paper  was 
found.  *  The  Federalist,  xxxv. 


454  THE  FEDERAL   GOYERNMEIs^T.  b.  v.  ;  en.  ii. 

ments ;  and  its  mode  of  constructing  the  house  of  representa- 
tives. Hamilton  began  the  work  by  saying  that  a  wrong  deci- 
sion would  not  only  be  ^'  the  dismemberment  of  the  union," 
but  "  the  general  misfortune  of  mankind ;  "  '''  he  closed  with 
the  words :  "  A  nation  without  a  national  government  is  an 
awful  spectacle.  The  establishment  of  a  constitution,  in  time 
of  profound  peace,  by  the  voluntary  consent  of  a  whole  people, 
is  a  prodigy,  to  the  completion  of  wliich  I  look  forward  with 
trembling  anxiety."  f  During  the  time  in  which  the  consti- 
tution was  m  jeopardy  Hamilton  and  Madison  cherished  for 
each  other  intimate  and  affectionate  relations,  differing  in  tem- 
perament, but  one  in  purpose  and  in  action.  To  the  day  of 
their  death  they  both  were  loyally  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
miion. 

JSTew  York,  having  the  most  convenient  harbor  for  world- 
wide commerce,  rivers  flowing  directly  to  the  sea,  to  Delaware 
bay,  to  the  Chesapeake,  to  the  Mississippi,  and  to  the  water- 
course of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  having  the  easiest  line  of  com- 
munication from  the  ocean  to  the  great  West,  needed,  more 
than  any  other  state,  an  efficient  general  government ;  and  yet 
of  the  thirteen  it  was  the  most  stubborn  in  opposition.  More 
than  half  the  goods  consumed  in  Connecticut,  in  ]^ew  Jersey, 
in  Vermont,  and  the  western  parts  of  Massachusetts,  were 
bought  within  its  limits  and  paid  an  impost  for  its  use.  :|:  Dur- 
ing the  war  it  agreed  to  give  congress  power  to  collect  a  five 
per-cent  impost ;  as  soon  as  it  regained  possession  of  the  city 
it  preferred  to  appropriate  the  revenue  to  its  own  purposes ; 
and,  as  a  consequence,  the  constitution  called  forth  in  ^New 
York  the  fiercest  resistance  that  selfish  interests  could  organize. 

To  meet  the  influence  of  The  Federalist,  the  republicans 
published  inflammatory  tracts,  and  circulated  large  editions  of 
the  Letters  from  the  Federal  Farmer  by  Richard  Henry  Lee. 
They  named  themselves  federal  republicans.  Their  election- 
eering centre  was  the  'New  York  custom-house,  then  an  insti- 
tution of  the  state  with  John  Lamb  as  collector.  After  the 
fashion  of  the  days  of  danger  they  formed  a  committee  of 
correspondence  and  sought  connections  throughout  the  land. 

*  The  Federalist,  i.  f  The  Federalist,  Ixxxv. 

$  Williamson  to  Iredell,  1  July  1788.     McKee's  Iredell,  ii.,  227,  228. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK.  455 

They  sent  their  own  emissaries  to  attend  the  proceedings  of 
the  Massachusetts  convention,  and,  if  possible,  to  frustrate  its 
acceptance  of  the  union.  Their  letters  received  answers  from 
Lowndes,  from  Henry  and  Grayson,  from  Atherton  of  ISTew 
Hampshire,  and  from  Richard  Henry  Lee,  who  told  tliem  that 
"  the  constitution  was  an  elective  despotism." 

At  the  regular  meeting  of  the  legislature  in  January  1788, 
Clinton  recommended  the  encouragement  of  commerce  and  of 
manufactures,  but  sent  in  the  proceedings  of  the  federal  con- 
vention without  remark.'^  All  others  remaining  silent  for 
twenty  days,  Egbert  Benson,  on  the  last  day  of  January,  pro- 
posed a  state  convention  in  the  precise  mode  recommended  by 
congress.  Schoonmaker  offered  a  preamble,  condemning  the 
federal  convention  for  having  exceeded  its  powers.  Benson 
conducted  the  debate  with  rare  abihty,  and  the  amended  pre- 
amble gained  but  twenty-five  votes  against  twenty-seven.  In 
the  senate  the  motion  to  postpone  the  question  mustered  but 
nine  votes  against  ten.  The  convention  was  ordered ;  but  in 
its  choice  the  constitutional  qualifications  of  electors  v/ere 
thrust  aside,  and  every  free  male  citizen  of  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  though  he  had  been  a  resident  but  for  a  day,  might  be 
a  voter  and  be  voted  for. 

According  to  the  wish  of  the  Virginia  opposition,  the  time 
for  the  meeting  of  the  convention  was  delayed  till  the  seven- 
teenth of  June.  Of  its  sixty-five  members,  more  than  two 
thirds  were  enemies  to  the  constitution. f  But  it  was  found 
that  the  state  was  divided  geographically.  The  seat  of  oppo- 
sition was  in  Ulster  county,  the  home  of  Governor  Clinton,  and 
it  extended  to  the  coimties  above  it.  The  southern  counties 
on  the  Hudson  river  and  on  Long  Island,  and  the  city  of  ISTew 
York,  were  so  unanimously  for  union  as  to  encourage  the  rumor 
that  they  would  at  all  events  adhere  to  it.  Clinton  himself 
began  to  think  it  absolutely  necessary  that  the  state  should  in 
some  form  secure  a  representation  under  the  new  constitution. 

The  greater  number  of  his  friends  were,  like  him,  aversp 
to  its  total  rejection ;  but,  while  some  were  willing  to  be  con- 
tent with  recommendatory  amendments,  and  others  with  ex- 
planatory ones,  to  settle  doubtful  constructions,  the  majority 

*  Ind.  Gazetteer,  19  January  lYSS.  f  Uamilton,  i.,  454. 


456  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  en.  ii. 

seemed  "anwillmg  to  be  reconciled  with  less  than  previous 
amendments.  All  the  while  the  people  of  the  state  were  drift- 
ing toward  union.* 

On  the  seventeenth  of  June,  fifteen  days  after  tlie  organi- 
zation of  the  Virginia  convention,  that  of  New  York  met  at 
Ponghkeepsie  and  unanimously  elected  Clinton  as  its  president. 
Among  the  delegates  of  the  city  of  'New  York  were  Jay,  Chief- 
Justice  Morris,  Hobart,  Livingston,  tiien  chancellor  of  the  state, 
Duane,  and  Hamilton.  On  the  other  side  the  foremost  men 
were  George  Clinton,  the  governor ;  Yates  and  Lansing,  who 
had  deserted  the  federal  convention  under  the  pretence  that  it 
was  exceeding  its  power ;  Samuel  Jones,  a  member  of  the  New 
York  bar,  who  excelled  in  clearness  of  intellect,  moderation,  and 
simplicity  of  character ;  and  Melancthon  Smith,  a  man  of  a 
religious  cast  of  mind,  familiar  with  metaphysical  discussions,  of 
undaunted  courage,  and  gifted  with  the  power  of  moderation.f 

On  the  nineteenth  the  chancellor  opened  the  debate,  show- 
ing the  superiority  of  a  republic  to  a  confederacy.  Without  a 
strong  federal  government  and  union  New  York  was  incapable 
of  self-defence,  and  the  Bricish  posts  within  the  limits  of  the 
state  would  continue  to  form  connections  with  hostile  tribes 
of  Indians,  and  be  held  in  defiance  of  the  most  solemn  treaties. 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion  every  objection  that  had 
been  made  to  the  constitution  either  in  Massachusetts  or  in 
Virginia  was  strongly  stated ;  and  replied  to.  Lansing,  adher- 
ing to  the  system  of  the  confederation,  loved  union ;  but  pro- 
fessed to  love  liberty  more.  :j:  Melancthon  Smith  declared  him- 
self most  strongly  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  union,  and 
refused  to  say  that  the  federal  constitution  was  at  war  with 
public  liberty.  Hamilton,  speaking  in  the  spirit  of  gentleness 
and  wisdom,  contrasted  the  method  of  requisitions  to  be  en- 
forced by  coercion  of  the  states,  with  general  laws  operating 
directly  on  individuals ;  and  he  showed  how  greatly  the  new 
system  excelled  in  simplicity,  in  efiiciency,  in  respect  for  per- 
sonal rights,  in  the  protection  of  the  public  liberty,  and,  above 
all,  in  humanity. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  swift  riders,  dispatched  by  Langdon, 

*  Compare  Jay's  Jay,  i.,  268. 

f  Thompson's  Long  Island,  ii.,  504,  505,  495.  |  Elliot,  ii.,  208-216,  219. 


1T88.  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK.  457 

brought  to  Hamilton  the  tidings  that  New  Hampshire  as  the 
ninth  state  had  assented  to  the  constitution  ;  jet  tlie  vote  did 
not  decide  New  York.  "  Our  chance  of  success  depends  upon 
you,"  wrote  Hamilton  to  Madison.  '^  Symptoms  of  relaxation 
in  some  of  the  leaders  authorize  a  gleam  of  hope  if  you  do 
well,  but  certainly  I  think  not  otherwise."  * 

Clinton  claimed  that  he  and  his  own  partisans  were  "  the 
friends  to  the  rights  of  mankind ; "  their  opponents  "  the  ad- 
vocates of  despotism ; "  "  the  most  that  had  been  said  by  the 
new  government  men  had  been  but  a  second  edition  of  The 
Federalist  well  delivered.  One  of  the  New  York  delegates," 
meaning  Hamilton,  "  had  in  substance,  though  not  explicitly, 
thrown  off  the  mask,  his  arguments  tending  to  show  the  neces- 
sity of  a  consolidated  continental  government  to  the  exclusion 
of  any  state  government." 

On  the  twenty-seventh  Hamilton  replied  by  a  full  declara- 
tion of  his  opinions.  "  The  establishment  of  a  republican  gov- 
ernment on  a  safe  and  solid  basis  is  the  wish  of  every  honest 
man  in  the  United  States,  and  is  an  object,  of  all  others,  the 
nearest  and  most  dear  to  my  own  heart.  This  great  purpose 
requires  strength  and  stability  in  the  organization  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  vigor  in  its  operations.  The  state  governments 
are  essentially  necessary  to  the  form  and  spirit  of  the  general 
system.f  With  the  representative  system  a  very  extensive 
country  may  be  governed  by  a  confederacy  of  states  in  w^hich 
the  supreme  legislature  has  only  general  powers,  and  the  civil 
and  domestic  concerns  of  the  people  are  regulated  by  the  laws 
of  the  several  states.  State  governments  must  form  a  leading 
principle.  They  can  never  lose  their  powers  till  the  whole 
people  of  America  are  robbed  of  their  liberties."  :j: 

In  answer  to  Hamilton  on  this  and  two  other  occasions, 
Clinton  carefully  set  forth  the  principles  on  which  he  reposed. 
During  the  war  he  had  wished  for  a  strong  federal  govern- 
ment ;  he  still  wished  a  federal  republic  for  the  mutual  pro- 
tection of  the  states  and  the  security  of  their  equal  rights.     In 

*  Hamilton's  Works,  i.,  462. 

f  Elliot,  ii.,  301,  304.      For  Hamilton's  brief  of  his  speeches  in  June  [not  of 
those  in  July],  see  Hamilton,  ii.,  463-466. 
X  Elliot,  ii.,  352-355. 


458         THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.     B.v.;cn.ii. 

sucli  a  confederacy  there  slioiild  be  a  perfect  representation ; 
but  of  that  representation  "the  states  are  the  creative  princi- 
ple," and,  having  eqnal  rights,  ought  for  their  protection  to  be 
equally  represented.  The  delegates  and  the  senators  of  a  state 
should  be  subject  to  its  instructions  and  liable  to  be  recalled  at 
its  pleasure,  for  the  representation  should  be  an  exact  and  con- 
tinuous representation  of  its  reflection  and  judgment  and  will. 
Moreover,  the  senators  should  vote  in  their  place  not  as  indi- 
viduals, but  collectively,  as  the  representation  of  the  state. 
He  would  further  have  the  members  of  congress  depend  on  the 
states  for  support.  Above  all,  he  abhorred  the  idea  of  reducing 
the  states  to  the  degraded  situation  of  petty  corporations  and 
rendering  them  liable  to  suits.  "  The  sovereignty  of  the  states 
he  considered  the  only  stable  security  for  the  liberties  of  the 
people  against  the  encroachments  of  power."  * 

On  the  tliird  of  July,  while  the  convention  was  still  engaged 
in  considering  the  constitution,  and  noting  the  propositions  of 
amendments,  the  decisive  news  of  the  unconditional  ratification 
of  the  constitution  by  Yirginia  broke  on  its  members ;  and 
from  that  moment  it  was  certain  that  they  would  not  venture 
to  stand  alone  against  the  judgment  of  every  state  in  JS^ew 
England  except  Ehode  Island,  and  every  other  state  except 
North  Carolina.  !  The  question  at  first  became  whether  the 
constitution  should  be  accepted  with  or  without  previous 
amendments.  On  the  tenth  Lansing  offered  a  bill  of  rights,  to 
which  no  one  objected ;  and  numerous  amendments,f  of  which 
the  class  relating  to  a  standing  army  in  time  of  peace,  direct 
taxes,  the  miiitia,  and  elections  to  congress  were  made  con- 
ditions of  the  ratification.  After  they  were  read,  the  conven- 
tion, on  the  proposal  of  Lansing,  adjourned,  leaving  an  informal 
committee  of  equal  numbers  of  both  parties  to  bring  the  busi- 
ness by  compromise  to  a  quick  and  friendly  decision.  In  the 
committee  Jay  declared  that  the  word  "  conditional "  must  be 
erased  before  any  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  amendments. 
As  this  point  was  refused,  the  committee  was  dissolved ;  but 

*  This  summary  of  three  speeches  made  by  Clinton,  one  in  June,  two  in  July 
after  Virginia  had  been  heard  from,  is  compiled  from  the  manuscripts  of  Clinton 
preserved  in  the  state  library  at  Albany. 

t  Penn.  Packet,  18  July  nsS;  Ind.  Gazetteer,  18  July  1T88. 


1788.  THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  NEW  YORK.  459 

already  Melanctlion  Smith  and  Samuel  Jones  showed  signs  of 
relenting. 

On  the  eleventh  Jay,  taking  the  lead,  moved  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  constitution  and  the  recommendation  of  amend- 
ments. After  a  long  debate,  Melancthon  Smitli  interposed 
with  a  resolution  which  meant  in  substance  that  New  York 
would  join  the  union,  reserving  the  right  to  recede  from  it  if 
the  desired  amendments  sliould  not  be  accepted.  Against  this 
motion  Hamilton,  after  vainly  proposing  a  form  of  ratifica- 
tion* nearly  similar  to  that  of  Virginia,  spoke  on  Saturday, 
the  nineteenth,  with  such  prevailing  force  that  Smith  con- 
fessed himself  persuaded  to  relinquish  it.  At  this  Lansing 
revived  the  proposition  to  enter  the  union,  but  only  with  a  re- 
served right  to  withdraw  from  it ;  and  on  the  following  Mon- 
day the  question  might  be  taken. f  Madison  having  resum.ed 
his  place  in  congress,  Hamilton  wrote  in  all  haste  for  his  ad- 
vice. On  Sunday,  Madison  speeded  an  answer  to  Poughkeep- 
sie,  and  on  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  twenty-first,  Hamilton 
read  to  the  convention  its  words,  which  were  as  follows  : 

"  My  opinion  is,  that  a  reservation  of  a  right  to  withdraw, 
if  amendments  be  not  decided  on  under  the  form  of  the  con- 
stitution within  a  certain  time,  is  a  conditional  ratification ; 
that  it  does  not  make  JSTew  York  a  member  of  the  new  union, 
and,  consequently,  that  she  could  not  be  received  on  that 
plan.  The  constitution  requires  an  adoption  in  toto  and  for- 
ever. It  has  been  so  adopted  by  the  other  states.  An  adop- 
tion for  a  limited  time  would  be  as  defective  as  an  adoption  of 
some  of  the  articles  only.  In  short,  any  condition  whatever 
must  vitiate  the  ratification.  The  idea  of  reserving  a  right 
to  withdraw  was  started  at  Kichmond,  and  considered  as  a 
conditional  ratification,  which  was  itself  abandoned  as  worse 
than  a  rejection."  J 

The  voice  of  Yirginia,  heard  through  Madison,  was  effect- 
ive. Following  the  example  of  Massachusetts,  and  appro- 
priating the  words  of  its  governor,  on  the  twenty-third  Samuel 

*  Hamilton,  ii ,  467-471. 

f  For  the  latter  part  of  the  convention  there  is  need  to  resort  to  the  Pcnn. 
Packet  and  the  Independent  Gazetteer  for  July  1788,  where  details  are  given. 
X  Hamilton's  Works, !.,  465. 


d:60  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  en.  ii. 

Jones,  supported  hj  Melancthon  Smith,  proposed,  like  Han- 
cock, to  make  no  "condition"  and  to  ratify  the  constitution 
"  in  full  confidence  "  of  the  adoption  of  all  needed  amend- 
ments. Lansing's  motion  for  conditions  was  negatived  in 
committee  by  a  vote  of  thirty-one  to  twenty-eight,  and  on 
Friday,  the  twenty-iifth,  the  convention  agreed  to  the  report 
of  its  committee  of  the  whole  in  favor  of  the  form  of  Samuel 
Jones  and  Melancthon  Smith  by  thirty  yeas  to  twenty-five 
nays,  the  largest  vote  on  any  close  division  during  the  whole 
session.  This  vote  was  purchased  at  the  price  of  consenting 
to  the  unanimous  resolution,  that  a  circular  letter  be  prepared 
to  be  laid  before  the  different  legislatures  of  the  United  States 
recommending  a  general  convention  to  act  upon  the  proposed 
amendments  of  the  different  legislatures  of  the  United  States. 
On  Saturday,  the  twenty-sixth,  the  form  of  ratification  of  the 
constitution  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  thirty  against  twenty- 
seven.  More  persons  were  absent  from  the  vote  than  would 
have  been  necessary  to  change  it.  On  the  following  Monday 
'New  York  invited  the  governors  of  the  several  states  in  the 
union  to  take  immediate  and  effectual  measures  for  calling  a 
second  federal  convention  to  amend  the  constitution.  "We 
are  unanimous,"  said  Clinton,  "in  thinking  this  measure 
very  conducive  to  national  harmony  and  good  government." 
Madison,  as  he  read  the  letter,  called  the  proposal  a  pestilent 
one,  and  Washington  was  touched  with  sorrow  at  the  thought 
that  just  as  the  constitution  was  about  to  anchor  in  harbor  it 
might  be  driven  back  to  sea. 

But  the  city  of  New  York  set  no  bounds  to  its  gladness  at 
the  acceptance  of  the  constitution  ;  the  citizens  paraded  in  a 
procession  unrivalled  in  splendor.  The  miniature  ship  which 
was  drawn  through  the  streets  bore  the  name  of  Hamilton. 
For  him  this  was  his  happiest  moment  of  unclouded  tri- 
umph. 

North  Carolina  held  its  convention  before  the  result  in 
New  York  was  known.  The  state  wanted  geographical  unity. 
A  part  of  its  territory  west  of  the  mountains  had  an  irregular 
separate  organization  under  the  name  of  Frankland.  Of  the 
rest  there  was  no  natural  centre  from  which  a  general  opinion 
could  emanate ;  besides,  toward  the  general  government  the 


1788.         THE   CONSTITUTION  IN  NORTH   CAROLINxV.  461 

state  was  delinquent,  and  it  had  not  yet  shaken  from  itself  the 
bewildering  influence  of  paper  money. 

"  In  this  crisis,"  wrote  Washington,  ^*  the  wisest  way  for 
IN'orth  CaroHna  will  be  to  adjourn  until  the  people  in  some 
parts  of  the  state  can  consider  the  magnitude  of  the  question 
and  the  consequences  involved  in  it,  more  coolly  and  delib- 
erately." *  The  convention,  which  consisted  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty-four  members,  assembling  on  the  twenty-first  of 
July,  elected  as  its  president  Johnston,  then  governor  of  the 
state,  organized  itself  with  tranquillity  and  dignity,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  discuss  the  constitution  in  committee,  clause  by 
clause.  The  convention  employed  eight  days  in  its  able  de- 
bates, of  which  very  full  and  fair  accounts  have  been  pre- 
served. 

First  among  the  federalists,f  and  the  master  mind  of  the 
convention,  was  James  Iredell,  who,  before  he  was  forty  years 
old,  was  placed  by  Washington  on  the  supreme  bench  of  the 
United  States.  He  was  supported  by  William  Eichardson 
Davie,  who  had  gained  honor  in  the  war  and  at  the  bar,  and 
afterward  held  high  places  in  North  Carolina  and  in  the  union ; 
by  Samuel  Johnston,  Archibald  Maclaine,  and  Rlcliard  Dobbs 
Spaight. 

The  other  side  was  led  by  Willie  Jones  of  Halifax,  noted 
for  wealth  and  aristocratic  habits  and  tastes,  yet  by  nature  a 
steadfast  supporter  of  the  principles  of  democracy.  :j:  He  was 
sustained  by  Samuel  Spencer  of  Anson,  a  man  of  candor  and 
moderation,  and  as  a  debater  far  superior  to  his  associates ;  by 
David  Caldwell  from  Guilford,  a  Presbyterian  divine,  fertile 
in  theories  and  tenacious  of  them ;  and  by  Timothy  Eloodworth, 
a  former  member  of  congress,  who  as  a  preacher  abounded  in 
offices  of  charity,  as  a  politician  dreaded  the  subjection  of 
southern  to  northern  interests. 

The  friends  of  the  constitution  had  the  advantage  of  spread- 
ing their  arguments  before  the  people  ;  on  the  other  side 
Willie  Jones,  who  held  in  his  hand  the  majority  of  the  con- 
vention, citing  the  wish  of  Jefferson  that  nine  states  might 

*  Sparks,  ix.,  390,  391. 

I  McRce's  Iredell,  ii.,  180-183;  for  instruction  an  invaluable  work. 

i  McRee's  Iredell,  ii.,  232 ;  Moore's  N.  C,  i.,  384. 


462  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.     b.  v. ;  en.  ii. 

ratify  tlie  constitution,  and  tlie  rest  hold  aloof  for  amendments, 
answered  in  this  wise :  "  We  do  not  determine  on  the  consti- 
tution ;  we  neither  reject  nor  adopt  it ;  we  leave  ourselves  at 
liberty ;  there  is  no  doubt  we  shall  obtain  our  amendments 
and  come  into  the  union." 

At  his  word  the  convention  on  the  first  of  August  deferred 
the  ratification  of  the  constitution,  and  proposed  amendments 
by  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  votes  against  eighty-four. 
But  harmony  between  the  state  and  the  new  federal  govern- 
ment was  pre-established  by  a  rule  adopted  on  the  next  day, 
that  any  impost  which  congress  might  ordain  for  the  union 
should  be  collected  in  North  Carolina  by  the  state  "  for  the  use 
of  cono-ress." 

o 

The  scales  were  ready  to  drop  from  the  eyes  of  Rhode 
Island.  That  state,  although  it  had  taken  no  part  in  the  fed- 
eral convention  and  for  a  year  and  more  had  neglected  to  at- 
tend in  congress,  watched  without  disapprobation  the  great 
revolution  that  was  taking  place.  ^Neither  of  the  two  states 
which  lingered  behind  remonstrated  against  the  establishment 
of  a  new  government  before  their  consent ;  nor  did  they  ask 
the  United  States  to  wait  for  them.  The  worst  that  can  be 
said  of  them  is,  that  they  were  late  in  arriving. 


1788.       THE  GOVEPwNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       463 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   FEDERAL    GOVERNMENT   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 

178S  TO  5  May  17S9. 

It  was  time  for  America  to  be  known  abroad  as  a  nation. 
The  statesmen  of  France  reproaclied  her  unsparingly  for  fail- 
ing in  her  pecuniary  engagements.  Boatmen  who  bore  the 
flag  of  the  United  States  on  the  father  of  rivers  were  fearlessly 
arrested  by  Spain,  while  Don  Gardoqui,  its  agent,  in  private 
conversation  tempted  the  men  of  Kentucky  "  to  declare  them- 
selves independent "  by  the  assurance  that  he  was  authorized 
to  treat  with  them  as  a  separate  power  respecting  commerce 
and  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.* 

The  colonists  in  Nova  Scotia  were  already  absorbing  a  part 
of  south-eastern  Maine,  and  inventing  false  excuses  for  doing 
so.  Great  Britain  declined  to  meet  her  own  obligations  with 
regard  to  the  slaves  whom  she  had  carried  away,  and  who 
finally  formed  the  seed  of  a  Britisli  colony  at  Sierra  Leone. 
She  did  not  give  up  her  negotiations  with  the  men  of  Ver- 
mont. She  withheld  the  interior  posts,  belonging  to  the  United 
States ;  in  the  commission  for  the  government  of  Upper  Cana- 
da she  kept  out  of  sight  the  line  of  boundary,  in  order  that  the 
commanding  officer  might  not  scruple  to  crowd  the  Americans 
away  from  access  to  their  inland  water-line,  and  thus  debar 
them  from  their  rightful  share  in  the  fur-trade.  She  was  all 
the  while  encouraging  the  Indian  tribes  within  the  bounds  of 
New  York  and  to  the  south  of  the  western  lakes  to  assert  their 
independence.  Hearing  of  the  discontent  of  the  Kentuckians 
and  the  men  of  west  North  Carolina,  she  sought  to  foment  the 

*  Letters  to  Washington,  iv.,  248. 


464:  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  on.  in. 

passions  which  might  hurrj  them  out  of  the  union,  as  far  as  it 
could  be  done  without  promising  them  protection. 

In  England  John  Adams  had,  in  1786,  vainly  explained  the 
expectation  of  congress  that  a  British  plenipotentiary  minister 
should  be  sent  to  the  United  States.*  The  bills  regulating  New- 
foundland and  intercourse  with  America  were  under  the  lead- 
ership of  the  same  Jenkinson  who  had  prepared  the  stamp  act ; 
and,  with  the  acquiescence  of  Pitt,  the  men  and  the  principles 
which  had  governed  British  policy  toward  America  for  most 
of  the  last  twenty  years  still  prevailed.f  In  February  1788 
the  son  of  George  Grenville,  speaking  for  the  ministry  in  the 
house  of  commons,  said  :  "  Great  Britain,  ever  since  the  peace, 
has  condescended  to  favor  the  United  States."  J  Moreover, 
the  British  government  would  take  no  notice  of  American 
remonstrances  against  the  violations  of  the  treaty  of  peace. 
Self-respect  and  patriotic  pride  forbade  John  Adams  to  re- 
main. 

Adams  and  Jefferson  had  exchanged  with  each  other  their 
portraits,  as  lasting  memorials  of  friendship ;  and  Adams,  on 
leaving  Europe,  had  but  two  regrets :  one,  the  opportunity  of 
research  in  books ;  the  other,  that  immediate  correspondence 
with  Jefferson  which  he  cherished  as  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
events  in  his  life.  '^  A  seven  months'  intimacy  with  him  here 
and  as  many  weeks  in  London  have  given  me  opportunities  of 
studying  him  closely,"  wrote  Jefferson  to  Madison.  "  He  is 
vain,  irritable,  and  a  bad  calculator  of  the  force  and  probable 
effect  of  the  motives  which  govern  men.  This  is  all  the  ill 
which  can  possibly  be  said  of  him.  He  is  disinterested,  pro- 
found in  liis  views,  and  accurate  in  his  judgment,  except 
where  knowledge  of  the  world  is  necessary  to  form  a  judg- 
ment. He  is  so  amiable  that  you  will  love  him,  if  ever  you 
become  acquainted  with  him."  * 

In  America  the  new  constitution  was  rapidly  conciliating 
the  affections  of  the  people.  Union  had  been  held  dear  ever 
since  it  was  formed ;  and  novf  that  the  constitution  was  its 

*  Adams  to  Carmarthen,  6  Febmary  17S6. 
f  Adams  to  Jay,  27  February  1786. 

X  Speech  of  Grenville,   11  February  1788.     Almon's  Parliamentary  Register, 
23,  p.  179.  *  Jefferson,  ii.,  107. 


1788.       THE   GOVERNMENT   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES.       465 

surest  guarantee,  no  party  could  succeed  wliicli  did  not  inscribe 
union,  and  with  union  the  constitution,  on  its  banner.  In 
September  1788  the  dissidents  of  Pennsylvania  held  a  con- 
ference at  Harrisburg.  With  the  delegates  from  beyond  the 
mountains  came  Albert  Gallatin,  a  native  of  Geneva,  and  edu- 
cated there  in  a  republic  of  a  purely  federal  form.  Their  pro- 
ceedings bear  the  marks  of  his  mind.  They  resolved  for 
themselves  and  recommended  to  all  others  to  acquiesce  in  the 
organization  of  the  government  under  "  the  federal  constitu- 
tion, of  which  the  ratification  had  formed  a  new  era  in  the 
American  world ; "  they  asked,  however,  for  its  speedy  revision 
by  a  general  convention.  All  their  actions  were  kept  within 
the  bounds  of  legality."^ 

In  Virginia  there  had  been  a  great  vibration  of  opinion. 
Its  assembly,  which  met  on  the  twentieth  of  October  1788, 
was  the  first  to  take  into  consideration  the  proposal  for  another 
federal  convention.  The  enemies  to  the  government  formed  a 
decided  majority  of  the  legislature.f  'No  one  of  its  members 
was  able  to  encounter  Patrick  Henry  in  debate,  and  his  edicts 
were  registered  without  opposition.  :j:  He  had  only  to  say, 
"  Let  this  be  law,"  and  it  became  law.  Taking  care  to  set  forth 
that  so  far  as  it  depended  on  Virginia  the  new  plan  of  govern- 
ment would  be  carried  into  immediate  operation,  the  assembly, 
on  the  thirtieth,  proposed  a  second  federal  convention,  and  in- 
vited the  concurrence  of  every  other  state.*  Madison  was 
the  fittest  man  in  the  union  to  be  of  the  senate  of  the  United 
States  :  Henry,  on  the  eighth  of  November,  after  pouring  forth 
a  declamation  against  his  federal  principles,  ||  nominated  Kich- 
ard  Henry  Lee  and  Grayson  for  the  two  senators  from  Vir- 
ginia, and  they  were  chosen  at  his  bidding.  He  divided  the 
state  into  districts,  cunningly  restricting  each  of  them  to  its 
own  inhabitants  in  the  choice  of  its  representative,  and  taking 
care  to  compose  the  district  in  which  Madison  would  be  a 
candidate  out  of  counties  which  were  thought  to  be  unfriendly 

*  Life  of  Gallatin  by  Henry  Adams,  11 ;  Elliot,  ii.,  514. 
f  Madison,  !.,  436,  437. 

i  Washington  to  Madison,  11  November  1788.     Tobias  Lear  to  Langdon,  31 
January  1789. 

#  Rives's  Madison,  ii.,  646.  i  Madison,  i.,  443,  444. 

VOL.  VI. — 30 


4:QQ  THE  FEDERAL  GOYERNMEISrT.  b.  y.  ;  oh.  m. 

to  federalism.  Assured  by  these  iniquitous  preparations,  Mon- 
roe, without  scruple,  took  tlie  field  against  Madison. 

In  Connecticut,  in  October,  the  circular  letter  of  'New  York 
bad  a  reading  among  other  public  communications,  but  "no 
anti- federalist  had  hardiness  enough  to  call  it  up  for  considera- 
tion or  to  speak  one  word  of  its  subject."  * 

The  legislature  of  Massachusetts  concurred  with  Hancock, 
the  governor,  that  an  immediate  second  federal  convention 
might  endanger  the  union. f  The  legislature  of  Pennsylvania 
put  the  question  at  rest  by  saying  :  "  The  house  do  not  perceive 
this  constitution  wanting  in  any  of  those  fundamental  principles 
which  are  calculated  to  ensure  the  liberties  of  their  country. 
The  happiness  of  America  and  the  harmony  of  the  union  depend 
upon  suffering  it  to  proceed  undisturbed  in  its  operation  by 
premature  amendments.  The  house  cannot,  consistently  with 
their  duty  to  the  good  people  of  this  state  or  with  their  affection 
to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  at  large,  concur  with  Yirginia 
in  their  application  to  congress  for  a  convention  of  the  states." 
This  vote  Mifflin,  the  governor,  early  in  March  1789,  com- 
municated to  the  governor  of  Virginia,  J  and  the  subject  was 
heard  of  no  more. 

Congress,  as  early  as  the  second  of  July  1788,  was  notified 
that  the  constitution  had  received  the  approval  of  nine  states ; 
but  they  wasted  two  months  in  wrangling  about  the  perma- 
nent seat  of  the  federal  government,  and  at  last  could  agree 
only  on  New  York  as  its  resting-place.  Not  till  the  thirteenth 
of  September  was  the  first  "Wednesday  of  the  following  Janu- 
ary appointed  for  the  choice  of  electors  of  president  in  the 
several  states;  and  the  first  Wednesday  in  March,  which  in 
that  year  was  the  fourth,  for  commencing  proceedings  under 
the  constitution.  The  states,  each  for  itself,  appointed  the 
times  and  places  for  electing  senators  and  representatives. 

The  interest  of  the  elections  centred  in  New  York,  Yir- 
ginia, and  South  Carolina.  In  four  districts  out  of  the  six 
into  which  New  York  was  divided  the  federalists  elected  their 

*  Trumbull  to  Washington,  28  October  1788.     Letters  to  Washington,  iv., 
238. 

f  New  York  Daily  Gazette  of  17  February  1789. 
^  Pennsylvania  Archives,  xi.,  557,  558. 


1788-1789.  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.    467 

candidates.  Having  in  the  state  legislature  but  a  bare  ma- 
jority in  the  senate,  while  their  opponents  outnumbered  them 
in  the  house,  each  branch  made  a  nomination  of  senators ;  but 
the  senate  refused  to  go  into  a  joint  ballot.  For  this  there 
was  the  excuse  that  the  time  for  a  new  election  was  close  at 
hand.  But  the  senate  further  refused  to  meet  the  house  for 
the  choice  of  electors  of  president,  and  this  was  an  act  of  fac- 
tion. 

The  star  of  Hamilton  was  then  in  the  ascendant,  and  he 
controlled  the  federalists ;  but  only  to  make  his  singular  in- 
capacity to  conduct  a  party  as  apparent  as  his  swiftness  and 
power  of  thought.  He  excluded  the  family  of  the  Living- 
stons from  influence.  To  defeat  Clinton's  re-election  as  gov- 
ernor, he  stepped  into  the  camp  of  his  opponents,  and  with 
Aaron  Burr  and  other  anti-federalists  selected  for  their  candi- 
date Eobert  Yates,  who  had  deserted  his  post  in  the  federal 
convention,  but  had  since  avowed  the  opinion  which  was  held 
by  every  one  in  the  state  that  the  new  constitution  should  be 
supported.  'New  York  at  the  moment  was  thoroughly  federal, 
yet  CHnton  escaped  defeat  through  the  attachment  of  his  own 
county  of  Ulster  and  the  insignilicance  of  his  opponent,  while 
the  federalists  were  left  without  any  state  organization.  In 
the  new  legislature  both  branches  were  federal,  and,  at  the  be- 
hest of  Hamilton,  against  the  remonstrances  of  Morgan  Lewis 
and  others,  Rufus  King,  on  his  transfer  of  residence  from 
Massachusetts  to  J^ew  York,  received  the  unexampled  wel- 
come of  an  immediate  election  with  Schuyler  to  the  senate. 

In  Virginia,  Madison  went  into  the  counties  that  were  re- 
lied on  to  defeat  him,  reasoned  with  the  voters  face  to  face, 
and  easily  won  the  day.  Of  the  ten  delegates  from  the  state, 
seven  were  federalists,  of  whom  one  was  from  Kentucky. 
South  Carolina  elected  avowed  anti-federalists,  except  Butler, 
of  the  senate,  who  had  conceded  many  points  to  bring  about 
the  union,  and  yet  very  soon  took  the  alarm  that  "  the  southern 
interest  was  imperilled."  * 

Under  the  constitution  the  house  of  representatives  formed 
a  quorum  on  the  first  of  April  1789.  The  senate  on  the  sixth 
chose  John  Langdon  of  New  Hampshire  its  president.  The 
*  Pierce  Butler  to  Iredell,  in  Life  of  Iredell,  ii.,  264,  265. 


468  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  ch.  hi. 

house  of  representatives  was  immediately  summoned,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  two  branches  he  opened  and  counted  the  votes. 
Every  one  of  the  sixty-nine,  cast  by  the  ten  states  which  took 
part  in  the  election,  was  for  Washington.  John  Adams  had 
thirty-four  votes ;  and  as  no  other  obtained  more  than  nine,  he 
was  declared  to  be  the  vice-president.  The  house  devolved 
upon  the  senate  the  office  of  communicating  the  result  to  those 
who  had  been  chosen ;  and  proceeded  to  business. 

"I  foresee  contentions,"  wrote  Madison,  "first  between 
federal  and  anti-federal  parties,  and  then  between  northern  and 
southern  parties,  which  give  additional  disagreeableness  to  the 
prospect."  ^  The  events  of  the  next  seventy  years  cast  their 
shadows  before.  Madison  revived  the  bill  which  he  had  pre- 
sented to  congress  on  the  eighteenth  of  March  1783,  for  duties 
on  imports,  adding  to  it  a  discriminating  duty  on  tonnage. 
For  an  immediate  public  revenue,  Lawrence  of  JSTew  York 
proposed  a  general  duty  ad  valorem.  England  herself,  by  re- 
straining and  even  prohibiting  the  domestic  industry  of  the 
Americans  so  long  as  they  remained  in  the  condition  of  colonial 
dependence,  had  trained  them  to  consider  the  establishment  of 
home  manufactures  as  an  act  of  patriotic  resistance  to  tyranny. 
Fitzsimons  of  Pennsylvania  disproved  of  a  uniform  ad  valo- 
rem duty  on  all  imports.  He  said :  "  I  have  in  contemplation 
to  encourage  domestic  manufactures  by  protecting  duties." 
Tucker  of  South  Carolina  enforced  the  necessity  of  great  de- 
liberation by  calling  attention  to  the  antagonistic  interests  of 
the  eastern,  middle,  and  southern  states  in  the  article  of  ton- 
nage. Boudinot  of  ISTew  Jersey  wished  glass  to  be  taxed,  for 
there  were  already  several  manufactures  of  it  in  the  country. 
"We  are  able,"  said  Hartley  of  Pennsylvania,  "to  furnish 
some  domestic  manufactures  in  sufficient  quantity  to  answer 
the  consumption  of  the  whole  union,  and  to  work  up  our  stock 
of  materials  even  for  exportation.  In  these  cases  I  take  it  to 
be  the  policy  of  free,  enlightened  nations  to  give  their  manu- 
factures that  encouragement  necessary  to  perfect  them  without 
oppressing  the  other  parts  of  the  community." 

"  We  must  consider  the  general  interests  of  the  union," 
said  Madison,  "as  much  as  the  local  or  state  interest.     My 

*  Madison,  i.,  450,  451. 


1789.       THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       469 

general  principle  is  that  commerce  ought  to  be  free,  and  labor 
and  industry  left  at  large  to  find  their  proper  object."  But  he 
admitted  that  "  the  interests  of  the  states  which  are  ripe  for 
manufactures  ought  to  have  attention,  as  the  power  of  protect- 
ing and  cherishing  them  has  bj  the  present  constitution  been 
taken  from  the  states  and  its  exercise  thrown  into  other  hands. 
Eegulations  in  some  of  the  states  have  produced  establishments 
which  ought  not  to  l)e  allowed  to  perish  from  the  alteration 
which  has  taken  place,  while  some  manufactures  being  once 
formed  can  advance  toward  perfection  without  any  adventitious 
aid.  Some  of  the  propositions  may  be  productive  of  revenue 
and  some  may  protect  our  domestic  manufactures,  though  the 
latter  subject  ought  not  to  be  too  confusedly  blended  with  the 
former."  "  I,"  said  Tucker,  "  am  opposed  to  high  duties  be- 
cause they  will  introduce  and  establish  a  system  of  smuggling, 
and  because  they  tend  to  the  oppression  of  citizens  and  states 
to  promote  the  benefit  of  other  states  and  other  classes  of  citi- 
zens." * 

The  election  to  the  presidency  found  Washington  prepared 
with  a  federal  policy,  which  was  the  result  of  long  meditation. 
He  was  resolved  to  preserve  freedom,  never  transcending  the 
powers  delegated  by  the  constitution  ;  even  at  the  cost  of  life 
to  uphold  the  union,  a  sentiment  which  in  him  had  a  tinge  of 
anxiety  from  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  what  Grayson 
called  "  the  southern  genius  of  America ; "  to  restore  the  pub- 
lic finances  ;  to  establish  in  the  foreign  relations  of  the  country 
a  thoroughly  American  system ;  and  to  preserve  neutrality  in 
the  impending  conflicts  between  nations  in  Europe. 

Across  the  Atlantic  Alfieri  cried  out  to  him :  "  Happy  are 
you,  who  have  for  the  sublime  and  permanent  basis  of  your 
glory  the  love  of  country  demonstrated  by  deeds." 

On  the  fourteenth  of  April  he  received  the  official  an- 
nouncement of  his  recall  to  the  public  service,  and  was  at  ten 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  sixteenth  on  his  way.  Though 
reluctant  "  in  the  evening  of  life  to  exchange  a  peaceful  abode 
for  an  ocean  of  difficulties,"  he  bravely  said :  "  Be  the  voyage 
long  or  short,  although  I  may  be  deserted  by  all  men,  integrity 
and  firmness  shall  never  forsake  me." 

*  Annals  of  Congress,  i.,  291. 


470  THE  FEDERAL   GOVERNMENT.  b.  v.  ;  oh.  hi. 

But  for  liim  the  country  could  not  liave  achieved  its  inde- 
pendence ;  but  for  him  it  could  not  have  formed  its  union ; 
and  but  for  him  it  could  not  have  set  the  federal  government 
in  successful  motion.  His  journey  to  New  York  was  one  con- 
tinued march  of  triumph.  All  the  way  he  was  met  with  ad- 
dresses from  the  citizens  of  various  towns,  from  societies,  uni- 
versities, and  churches. 

His  neighbors  of  Alexandria  crowded  round  him  with  the 
strongest  personal  affection,  saying :  "  Farewell,  and  make  a 
grateful  people  happy ;  and  may  the  Being  who  maketh  and 
unmaketh  at  his  will,  restore  to  us  again  the  best  of  men  and 
the  most  beloved  fellow-citizen."  * 

To  the  citizens  of  Baltimore,  "Washington  said :  "  I  hold  it 
of  little  moment  if  the  close  of  my  life  shall  be  embittered, 
provided  I  shall  have  been  instrumental  in  securing  the  hber- 
ties  and  promoting  the  happiness  of  the  American  people."  f 

He  assured  the  society  for  promoting  domestic  manufac- 
tures in  Delaware  that  "  the  promotion  of  domestic  manufac- 
tures may  naturally  be  expected  to  flow  from  an  energetic 
government ; "  and  he  promised  to  give  "  a  decided  preference 
to  the  produce  and  fabrics  of  America."  J 

At  Philadelphia,  "  almost  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  the 
divine  munificence,"  he  spoke  words  of  hope:  "The  most 
gracious  Being,  who  has  hitherto  watched  over  the  interests 
and  averted  the  perils  of  the  United  States,  will  never  suffer 
so  fair  an  inheritance  to  become  a  prey  to  anarchy  or  despot- 
ism." * 

At  Trenton  he  was  met  by  a  party  of  matrons  and  their 
daughters,  dressed  in  white,  strewing  flowers  before  him,  and 
singing  an  ode  of  welcome  to  "  the  mighty  chief "  who  had 
rescued  them  from  a  "  mercenary  foe." 

Embarking  at  Elizabeth  Point  in  a  new  barge,  manned  by 
pilots  dressed  in  white,  he  cleaved  his  course  swiftly  across  the 
bay,  between  gayly  decorated  boats,  filled  with  gazers  who 
cheered  him  with  instrumental  music,  or  broke  out  in  songs. 
As  he  touched  the  soil  of  New  York  he  was  welcomed  by  the 
two  houses  of  congress,  by  the  governor  of  the  state,  by  the 

*  Sparks,  xii.,  139,  note.  ^  Sparks,  xii.,  141. 

f  Sparks,  xii.,  140,  141.  #  Sparks,  xii.,  145. 


1789.       THE   GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES..      471 

magistrates  of  tlie  city,  by  its  people ;  and  so  attended  he  pro- 
ceeded on  foot  to  the  modest  mansion  lately  occupied  by  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  confederate  congress.  On  that  day  he 
dined  with  Clinton ;  in  the  evening  the  city  was  illuminated. 
The  senate,  under  the  influence  of  John  Adams  and  the  per- 
sistency of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  would  have  given  him  the  title 
of  "  Highness ; "  but  the  house,  supported  by  the  true  repub- 
lican simplicity  of  the  man  whom  they  both  wished  to  honor, 
insisted  on  the  simple  words  of  the  constitution,  and  prevailed. 

On  the  thirtieth,  the  day  appointed  for  the  inauguration, 
"Washington,  being  fifty-seven  years,  two  months,  and  eight 
days  old,  was  ceremoniously  received  by  the  two  houses  in  the 
hall  of  the  senate.  Stepping  out  to  the  middle  compartment 
of  a  balcony,  which  had  been  raised  in  front  of  it,  he  found 
before  him  a  dense  throng  extending  to  Broad  street,  and  fill- 
ing Wall  street  to  Broadway.  All  were  hushed  as  Livingston, 
the  chancellor  of  the  state,  administered  the  oath  of  office ;  but 
when  he  cried :  "  Long  Hve  George  Washington,  President  of 
the  United  States ! "  the  air  was  rent  with  huzzas,  which  were 
repeated  as  Washington  bowed  to  the  multitude. 

Then  returning  to  the  senate-chamber,  with  an  aspect  grave 
almost  to  sadness  and  a  voice  deep  and  tremulous,  he  addressed 
the  two  houses,  confessing  his  distrust  of  his  own  endowments 
and  his  inexperience  in  civil  administration.  The  magnitude 
and  difficulty  of  the  duties  to  which  his  country  had  called  him 
weighed  upon  him  so  heavily  that  he  shook  as  he  proceeded : 
"  It  would  be  peculiarly  improper  to  omit,  in  this  first  official 
act,  my  fervent  supplications  to  that  Almighty  Being  who 
presides  in  the  councils  of  nations,  that  his  benediction  may 
consecrate  to  the  liberties  and  happiness  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  a  government  instituted  by  themselves.  ]^o 
people  can  be  bound  to  acknowledge  the  invisible  hand  which 
conducts  the  affairs  of  men  more  than  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  Every  step  by  which  they  have  advanced  to 
the  character  of  an  independent  nation  seems  to  have  been 
distinguished  by  some  token  of  providential  agency.  There 
exists  in  the  economy  of  nature  an  indissoluble  union  between 
an  honest  and  magnanimous  policy  and  public  prosperity. 
Heaven  can  never  smile  on  a  nation  that  disregards  the  eternal 


472  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT.         b.  v.  ;  oh.  hi. 

rules  of  order  and  right.  The  preservation  of  liberty,  and  the 
destiny  of  the  republican  model  of  government,  are  justly  con- 
sidered as  deeply,  perhaps  as  finally,  staked  on  the  experiment 
intrusted  to  the  American  people." 

At  the  close  of  the  ceremony  the  president  and  both 
branches  of  congress  were  escorted  to  the  church  of  St.  Paul, 
where  the  chaplain  of  the  senate  read  prayers  suited  to  the 
occasion,  after  which  they  all  attended  the  president  to  his 
mansion. 

"Every  one  without  exception,"  so  reports  the  French 
minister  to  his  government,*  "  appeared  penetrated  with  ven- 
eration for  the  illustrious  chief  of  the  republic.  The  humblest 
was  proud  of  the  virtues  of  the  man  who  was  to  govern  him. 
Tears  of  joy  were  seen  to  flow  in  the  hall  of  the  senate,  at 
church,  and  even  in  the  streets,  and  no  sovereign  ever  reigned 
more  completely  in  the  hearts  of  his  subjects  than  Washing- 
ton in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens.  Nature,  which  had 
given  him  the  talent  to  govern,  distinguished  him  from  all  others 
by  his  appearance.  He  had  at  once  the  soul,  the  look,  and 
the  figure  of  a  hero.  He  never  appeared  embarrassed  at  hom- 
age rendered  him,  and  in  his  manners  he  had  the  advantage 
of  joining  dignity  to  great  simplicity." 

To  the  president's  inaugural  speech  one  branch  of  the 
legislature  thus  responded  :  "  The  senate  will  at  all  times  cheer- 
fully co-operate  in  every  measure  which  may  strengthen  the 
union  and  perpetuate  the  liberties  of  this  great  confederated 
republic." 

The  representatives  of  the  American  people  likewise  ad- 
dressed him  :  "  With  you  we  adore  the  invisible  hand  which 
has  led  the  American  people  through  so  many  difiiculties ;  and 
we  cherish  a  conscious  responsibility  for  the  destiny  of  repub- 
lican liberty.  We  join  in  your  fervent  supplication  for  our 
country ;  and  we  add  our  own  for  the  choicest  blessings  of 
heaven  on  the  most  beloved  of  her  citizens." 

In  the  same  moments  of  the  fifth  day  of  May  1789,  when 
these  words  were  reported,  the  ground  was  trembling  beneath 
the  arbitrary  governments  of  Europe  as  Louis  XYI.  pro- 
ceeded to    open   the   states-general  of   France.     The  day  of 

*  Moustier's  report  on  the  inauguration  of  the  president  of  the  United  States. 


1789.      THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.        473 

wrath,  against  which  Leibnitz  had  warned  the  monarchs  of 
Europe,  was  beginning  to  break,  and  its  judgments  were  to 
be  the  more  terrible  for  the  long  delay  of  its  coming.  The 
great  Frederick,  who  alone  of  them  all  had  lived  and  toiled 
for  the  good  of  his  land,  described  the  degeneracy  and  insig- 
nificance of  his  fellow-rulers  with  cynical  scorn.  J^ot  one  of 
them  had  a  surmise  that  the  only  sufficient  reason  for  the  ex- 
istence of  a  king  lies  in  his  usefulness  to  the  people.  !Nor  did 
they  spare  one  another.  The  law  of  morality  was  never  suf- 
fered to  restrain  the  passion  for  conquest.  Austria  preyed 
upon  Italy  until  Alfieri  could  only  say,  in  his  despair,  that 
despotic  power  had  left  him  no  country  to  serve ;  nor  did  the 
invader  permit  the  thought  that  an  Italian  could  have  a  right 
to  a  country.  The  heir  in  the  only  line  of  protestant  kings 
on  the  continent  of  Europe,  too  blind  to  see  that  he  would  one 
day  be  stripped  of  the  chief  part  of  his  own  share  in  the 
spoils,  joined  with  two  other  robbers  to  divide  the  country  of 
Kosciuszko.  In  Holland  dynastic  interests  were  betraying  the 
welfare  of  the  republic.  All  faith  was  dying  out ;  and  self, 
in  its  eagerness  for  pleasure  or  advantage,  sti:Qed  the  voice  of 
justice.  The  atheism  of  the  great,  who  lived  without  God 
in  the  world,  concealed  itself  under  superstitious  observances 
which  were  enforced  by  an  inquisition  that  sought  to  rend  be- 
hefs  from  the  soul,  and  to  suppress  inquiry  by  torments  which 
surpassed  the  worst  cruelties  that  savages  could  invent.  Even 
in  Great  Britain  all  the  branches  of  government  were  con- 
trolled by  the  aristocracy,  of  which  the  more  liberal  party  could 
in  that  generation  have  no  hope  of  being  summoned  by  the 
kmg  to  frame  a  cabinet.  The  land,  of  which  every  member 
of  a  clan  had  had  some  share  of  ownership,  had  been  for  the 
most  part  usurped  by  the  nobility ;  and  the  people  were  starv- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  liberality  which  their  own  hands  ex- 
torted from  nature.  The  monarchs,  whose  imbecility  or  ex- 
cesses had  brought  the  doom  of  death  on  arbitrary  power,  were 
not  only  unfit  to  rule,  but,  while  their  own  unlimited  sovereign- 
ty was  stricken  with  death,  they  knew  not  how  to  raise  up 
statesmen  to  take  their  places.  "Well-intentioned  friends  of 
mankind  burned  with  indignation,  and  even  the  wise  and  pru- 
dent were  incensed  by  the  bitterest  consciousness  of  wrong ; 


474         THE  FEDERAL  GOyERNMEKT.    b.  v. ;  oh.  m. 

while  the  lowly  classes,  clouded  by  d^^spair,  were  driven  some- 
times to  admit  the  terrible  thought  that  religion,  which  is  the 
poor  man's  consolation  and  defence,  might  be  but  an  instru- 
ment of  government  in  the  hands  of  their  oppressors.  There 
was  no  rehef  for  the  nations  but  through  revolution,  and  their 
masters  had  poisoned  the  weapons  which  revolution  must  use. 
In  America  a  new  people  had  risen  up  without  king,  or 
princes,  or  nobles,  knowing  nothing  of  tithes  and  little  of 
landlords,  the  plough  being  for  the  most  part  in  the  hands  of 
free  holders  of  the  soil.  They  were  more  sincerely  religious, 
better  educated,  of  serener  minds,  and  of  purer  morals  than 
the  men  of  any  former  republic.  By  calm  meditation  and 
friendly  councils  they  had  prepared  a  constitution  which,  in 
the  union  of  freedom  with  strength  and  order,  excelled  every 
one  known  before ;  and  which  secured  itself  against  violence 
and  revolution  by  providing  a  peaceful  method  for  every 
needed  reform.  In  the  happy  morning  of  their  existence  as 
one  of  the  powers  of  the  world,  they  had^chosen  justice  for 
.their  guide ;  and  while  they  proceeded  on  their  way  with  a 
well-founded  confidence  and  joy,  all  the  friends  of  mankind 
invoked  success  on  their  unexampled  endeavor  to  govern  states 
and  territories  of  imperial  extent  as  one  federal  republic. 


THE  CONSTITUTION 


UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 


WITH  THE  AMENDMENTS. 


OOMPAEED   WITH  THE   ORIGINAL  IIT   THE   DEPAETMENT   OF   STATE, 
SEPTEMBEE   17,  1872,  AND   FOUND   TO   BE   OOREEOT. 


OOI^STITUTIOE" 


OF  THE 


UNITED  STATES   OP   AMERICA. 


/  We  the  People  of  tlie  United  States,  in  Order  to  form  a  more 
perfect  Union,  establish  Justice,  insure  domestic  Tranquility, 
provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  Wel- 
fare, and  secure  the  Blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves  and 
our  Posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for 
the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE.  I. 

Section.  1.  All  legislative  Powers  herein  granted  shall  be 
vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of 
a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 

Section.  2.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  com- 
posed of  Members  chosen  every  second  Year  by  the  People  of 
the  several  States,  and  the  Electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the 
Qualifications  requisite  for  Electors  of  the  most  numerous 
Branch  of  the  State  Legislature. 

No  Person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have 
attained  to  the  Age  of  twenty-five  Years,  and  been  seven  Ye^s 
a  Citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected, 
be  an  Inhabitant  of  that  State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  Taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  States  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  ac- 
cording to  their  respective  Numbers,  which  shall  be  determined 
by  adding  to  the  whole  Number  of  free  Persons,  including  those 
bound  to  Service  for  a  Term  of  Years,  and  excluding  Indians 


478  THE  OONSTITUTIOIT  OF 

not  taxed,  three  fifths  of  all  other  Persons.  The  actual  Enu- 
meration shall  be  made  within  three  Years  after  the  first  Meet- 
ing of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  sub- 
sequent Term  of  ten  Years,  in  such  Manner  as  they  shall  by  Law 
direct.  The  Number  of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one 
for  every  thirty  Thousand,  but  each  State  shall  have  at  Least 
one  Representative  ;  and  until  such  enumeration  shall  be  made, 
the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  chuse  three, 
Massachusetts  eight,  Rhode-Island  and  Providence  Plantations 
one,  Connecticut  five.  New  York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Pennsyl- 
vania eight,  Delaware  one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten.  North 
Carolina  five.  South  Carolina  five,  and  Georgia  three. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  the  Representation  from  any  State, 
the  Executive  Authority  thereof  shall  issue  Writs  of  Election  to 
fill  such  Vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  chuse  their  Speaker  and 
other  Officers  ;  and  shall  have  the  sole  Power  of  Impeachment. 

Sectioi^.  3.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  com- 
posed of  two  Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature 
thereof,  for  six  Years  ;  and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  Vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  Consequence  of 
the  first  Election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into 
three  Classes.  The  Seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  Class  shall 
be  vacated  at  the  Expiration  of  the  second  Year,  of  the  second 
Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the  fourth  Year,  and  of  the  third  Class 
at  the  Expiration  of  the  sixth  Year,  so  that  one  third  may  be 
chosen  every  second  Year ;  and  if  Vacancies  happen  by  Resig- 
nation, or  otherwise,  during  the  Recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any 
State,  the  Executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  Appointments 
until  the  next  Meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill 
such  Vacancies. 

No  Person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  Age  of  thirty  Years,  and  been  nine  Years  a  Citizen  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  Inhabitant 
of  that  State  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

The  Vice  President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of 
the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  Vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  chuse  their  other  Officers,  and  also  a  Presi- 
dent pro  tempore,  in  the  Absence  of  the  Vice  President,  or  when 
he  shall  exercise  the  Office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  479 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  Power  to  try  all  Impeach- 
ments. When  sitting  for  that  Purpose,  they  shall  be  on  Oath 
or  Affirmation.  When  the  President  of  the  United  States  is 
tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall  preside  :  And  no  Person  shall  be 
convicted  without  the  Concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  the  Members 
present. 

Judgment  in  Cases  of  Impeachment  shall  not  extend  further 
than  to  removal  from  Office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  en- 
joy any  Office  of  honor,  Trust  or  Profit  under  the  United  States  : 
but  the  Party  convicted  shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to 
Indictment,  Trial,  Judgment  and  Punishment,  according  to  Law. 

Section.  4.  The  Times,  Places  and  Manner  of  holding  Elec- 
tions for  Senators  and  Representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in 
each  State  by  the  Legislature  thereof  ;  but  the  Congress  may  at 
any  time  by  Law  make  or  alter  such  Regulations,  except  as  to 
the  Places  of  chusing  Senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  Year,  and 
such  Meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless 
they  shall  by  Law  appoint  a  different  Day. 

Section.  5.  Each  House  shall  be  the  Judge  of  the  Elections, 
Returns  and  Qualifications  of  its  own  Members,  and  a  Majority 
of  each  shall  constitute  a  Quorum  to  do  Business  Abut  a  smaller^  ^ 
Number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized 
to  compel  the  Attendance  of  absent  Members,  in  such  Manner, 
and  under  such  Penalties  as  each  House  may  provide. 

Each  House  may  determine  the  Rules  of  its  Proceedings, 
punish  its  Members  for  disorderly  Behaviour,  and,  with  the  Con- 
currence of  two  thirds,  expel  a  Member. 

Each  House  shall  keep  a  Journal  of  its  Proceedings,  and 
from  time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  Parts  as  may 
in  their  Judgment  require  Secrecy  ;  and  the  Yeas  and  Nays  of 
the  Members  of  either  House  on  any  question  shall,  at  the  De- 
sire of  one  fifth  of  those  Present,  be  entered  on  the  Journal. 

Neither  House,  during  the  Session  of  Congress,  shall,  without 
the  Consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor 
to  any  other  Place  than  that  in  which  the  two  Houses  shall  be 
sitting. 

Section.  6.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive 
a  Compensation  for  their  Services,  to  be  ascertained  by  Law,  and 


480  THE  CONSTITUTIOIT  OF 

paid  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in 
all  Cases,  except  Treason,  Felony  and  Breach  of  the  Peace,  be 
privileged  from  Arrest  during  their  Attendance  at  the  Session 
of  their  respective  Houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from 
the  same  ;  and  for  any  Speech  or  Debate  in  either  House,  they 
shall  not  be  questioned  in  any  other  Place. 

ISTo  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  Time  for 
which  he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  Office  under  the 
Authority  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  have  been  created, 
or  the  Emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  encreased  during 
such  time  ;  and  no  Person  holding  any  Office  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  a  Member  of  either  House  during  his  Continu- 
ance in  Office. 

Sectioit.  7.  All  Bills  for  raising  Revenue  shall  originate  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or 
concur  with  Amendments  as  on  other  Bills. 

Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  Law,  be  presented 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States  ;  If  he  approve  he  shall 
sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it,  with  his  Objections  to  that 
House  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall  enter  the 
Objections  at  large  on  their  Journal,  and  proceed  to  reconsider 
it.  If  after  such  Reconsideration  two  thirds  of  that  House  shall 
agree  to  pass  the  Bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  Objec- 
tions, to  the  other  House,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsid- 
ered, and  if  approved  by  two  thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall  be- 
come a  Law.  But  in  all  such  Cases  the  Votes  of  both  Houses 
shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  l^ays,  and  the  Names  of  the 
Persons  voting  for  and  against  the  Bill  shall  be  entered  on  the 
Journal  of  each  House  respectively.  If  any  Bill  shall  not  be 
returned  by  the  President  within  ten  Days  (Sundays  excepted) 
after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  Same  shall  be  a 
Law,  in  like  Manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress 
by  their  Adjournment  prevent  its  Return,  in  which  Case  it  shall 
not  be  a  Law. 

Every  Order,  Resolution,  or  Vote  to  which  the  Concurrence- 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary 
(except  on  a  question  of  Adjournment)  shall  be  presented  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States  ;  and  before  the  Same  shall  takci 
Effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disapproved  by  him. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  481 

shall  be  repassed  by  two  thirds  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, according  to  the  Rules  and  Limitations  prescribed 
in  the  Case  of  a  Bill. 

Sectio:n-.  8.  '^he  Congress  shall  have  Power  To  lay  and  col- 
lect Taxes,  Duties,  Imposts  and  Excises,^o  pay  the  Debts  and 
provide  for  the  common  Defence  and  general  Welfare  of  the 
United  States  ;Qbut  all  Duties,  Imposts  and  Excises  shall  be  uni- 
form throughout  the  United  States  ; 

To  borrow  Money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  ; 

To  regulate  Commerce  with  foreign  Nations,  and  among  the 
several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  Tribes  ; 

To  establish  an  uniform  Rule  of  Naturalization,  and  uniform 
Laws  on  the  subject  of  Bankruptcies  throughout  the  United 
States ; 

To  coin  Money,  regulate  the  Value  thereof,  and  of  foreign 
Coin,  and  fix  the  Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures  ; 

To  provide  for  the  Punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  Securi- 
ties and  current  Coin  of  the  United  States  ; 
»/To  establish  Post  Offices  and  post  Roads  ; 

To  promote  the  Progress  of  Science  and  useful  Arts,  by  se- 
curing for  limited  Times  to  Authors  and  Inventors  the  exclusive 
Right  to  their  respective  Writings  and  Discoveries  ; 

To  constitute  Tribunals  inferior  to  the  supreme  Court ; 

To  define  and  punish  Piracies  and  Felonies  committed  on  the 
high  Seas,  and  Offences  against  the  Law  of  Nations  ; 

To  declare  War,  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal,  and 
make  Rules  concerning  Captures  on  Land  and  Water ; 

To  raise  and  support  Armies,  but  no  Appropriation  of  Money 
to  that  Use  shall  be  for  a  longer  Term  than  two  Years  ; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  Navy  ; 

To  make  Rules  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the 
land  and  naval  Forces  ; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia  to  execute  the  Laws 
of  the  Union,  suppress  Insurrections  and  repel  Invasions  ; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining,  the  Mili- 
tia, and  for  governing  such  Part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in 
the  Service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respect- 
ively, the  Appointment  of  the  Officers,  and  the  Authority  of 
training  the  Militia  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by 

Congress  ; 

yoL.  VI.-J-31 


4:82  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF 

To  exercise  exclusive  Legislation  in  all  Cases  whatsoever, 
over  such  District  (not  exceeding  ten  Miles  square)  as  may,  by- 
Cession  of  particular  States,  and  the  Acceptance  of  Congress, 
become  the  Seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
exercise  like  Authority  over  all  Places  purchased  by  the  Consent 
of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in  which  the  Same  shall  be,  for 
the  Erection  of  Forts,  Magazines,  Arsenals,  dock- Yards,  and 
other  needful  Buildings  ; — And 

To  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for 
carrying  into  Execution  the  foregoing  Powers,  and  all  other 
Powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  Department  or  Officer  thereof. 

SECTioi>r.  9.  The  Migration  or  Importation  of  such  Persons 
as  any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit, 
shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Congress  prior  to  the  Year  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a  Tax  or  duty  may  be 
imposed  on  such  Importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each 
Person. 

The  Privilege  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  shall  not  be  sus- 
pended, unless  when  in  Cases  of  Rebellion  or  Invasion  the  public 
Safety  may  require  it. 

No  Bill  of  Attainder  or  ex  post  facto  Law  shall  be  passed. 

No  Capitation,  or  other  direct,  Tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in 
Proportion  to  the  Census  or  Enumeration  herein  before  directed 
to  be  taken. 

No  Tax  or  Duty  shall  be  laid  on  Articles  exported  from  any 
State. 

No  Preference  shall  be  given  by  any  Regulation  of  Com- 
merce or  Revenue  to  the  Ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  an- 
other :  nor  shall  Vessels  bound  to,  or  from,  one  State,  be  obliged 
^\^  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  Duties  in  another. 

1^)..  No  Money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  but  in  Conse- 

quence of  Appropriations  made  by  Law ;  and  a  regular  State- 
ment and  Account  of  the  Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  all  pub- 
lic Money  shall  be  published  from  time  to  time. 

No  Title  of  Nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States  : 
And  no  Person  holding  any  Office  of  Profit  or  Trust  under  them, 
shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  pres- 
ent. Emolument,  Office,  or  Title,  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  any 
King,  Prince,  or  foreign  State. 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  483 

Sectioi!^.  10.  '  'No  State  shall  enter  into  any  Treaty,  Alliance, 
or  Confederation  ;  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal ;  coin 
Money ;' emit  Bills  of  Credit;  make  any  Thing  but  gold  and 
silver  Coin  a  Tender  in  Payment  of  Debts ;  pass  any  Bill  of 
Attainder,  ex  post  facto  Law,  or  Law  impairing  the  Obligation 
of  Contracts,  or  grant  any  Title  of  Nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any 
Imposts  or  Duties  on  Imports  or  Exports,  except  what  may  be 
absolutely  necessary  for  executing  it's  inspection  Laws  :  and  the 
net  Produce  of  all  Duties  and  Imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  Im- 
ports or  Exports,  shall  be  for  the  Use  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  all  such  Laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  Re- 
vision and  Controul  of  the  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  Congress,  lay  any 
Duty  of  Tonnage,  keep  Troops,  ox*  Ships  of  War  in  time  of 
Peace,  enter  into  any  Agreeriient  or  Compact  with  another  State, 
or  with  a  foreign  Power,  or  engage  in  War,  unless  actually  in- 
vaded, or  in  such  imminent  Danger  as  will  not  admit  of  delay. 

ARTICLE.  IL 

Section.  1.  The  executive  Power  shall  be  vested  in  a 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his 
Office  during  the  Term  of  four  Years,  and,  together  with  the 
Vice  President,  chosen  for  the  same  Term,  be  elected,  as  fol- 
lows 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  Manner  as  the  Legislature 
thereof  may  direct,  a  Number  of  Electors,  equal  to  the  whole 
Number  of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may 
be  entitled  in  the  Congress  :  but  no  Senator  or  Representative, 
or  Person  holding  an  Office  of  Trust  or  Profit  under  the  United 
States,  shall  be  appointed  an  Elector. 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote 
by  Ballot  for  two  Persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an 
Inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves.  And  they  shall 
make  a  List  of  all  the  Persons  voted  for,  and  of  the  Number  of 
Votes  for  each  ;  which  List  they  shall  sign  and  certify,  and 
transmit  sealed  to  the  Seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  President 
of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  Presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives,  open  all  the  Certificates,  and  the  Votes  shall 
then  be  counted.     The  Person  having  the  greatest  Number  of 


/ 

484:  THE  CON^STITUTIOiT  OF 

Votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  Number  be  a  Majority  of 
the  Avhole  Number  of  Electors  appointed  ;  and  if  there  be  more 
than  one  who  have  such  Majority,  and  have  an  equal  Number  of 
Votes,  then  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  immediately 
chuse  by  Ballot  one  of  them  for  President ;  and  if  no  Person 
have  a  Majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  List  the  said 
House  shall  in  like  Manner  chuse  the  President.  But  in  chusing 
the  President,  the  Votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  Repre- 
sentation from  each  State  having  one  Vote  ;  A  quorum  for  this 
Purpose  shall  consist  of  a  Member  or  Members  from  two  thirds 
of  the  States,  and  a  Majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary 
to  a  Choice,  nln  every  Case,  after  the  Choice  of  the  President, 
the  Person  having  the  greatest  Number  of  Votes  of  the  Electors 
shall  be  the  Vice  President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or 
more  who  have  equal  Votes,  the  Senate  shall  chuse  from  them 
by  Ballot  the  Vice  President. 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  Time  of  chusing  the  Elec- 
tors, and  the  Day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  Votes  ;  which 
Day  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States. 

No  Person  except  a  natural  born  Citizen,  or  a  Citizen  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  time  of  the  Adoption  of  this  Constitution, 
shall  be  eligible  to  the  Office  of  President ;  neither  shall  any 
Person  be  eligible  to  that  Office  who  shall  not  have  attained  to 
the  '^'^^e  of  thirty  five  Years,  and  been  fourteen  Years  a  Resi- 
uint  within  the  United  States. 

In  Case  of  the  Removal  of  the  President  from  Office,  or  of 
his  Death,  Resignation,  or  Inability  to  discharge  the  Powers  and 
Duties  of  the  said  Office,  the  Same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice 
President,  and  the  Congress  may  by  Law  provide  for  the  Case 
of  Removal,  Death,  Resignation  or  Inability,  both  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Vice  President,  declaring  what  Officer  shall  then  act  as 
President,  and  such  Officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  Dis- 
ability be  removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive  for  his  Services, 
a  Compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  encreased  nor  dimin- 
ished during  the  Period  for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected, 
and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that  Period  any  other  Emolu- 
ment from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  Execution  oi  his  Office,  he  shall  take 
the  following  Oath  or  Affirmation  : — "  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or 
affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  Office  of  President  of 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  485 

the  United  States,  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  Ability,  preserve, 
protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

Sectioit.  2.  The  President  shall  be  Commander  in  Chief  of 
the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  Militia  of 
the  several  States,  when  called  into  the  actual  Service  of  the 
United  States  ;  he  may  require  the  Opinion,  in  writing,  of  the 
principal  Officer  in  each  of  the  executive  Departments,  upon  any 
Subject  relating  to  the  Duties  of  their  respective  Offices,  and  he 
shall  have  Power  to  grant  Reprieves  and  Pardons  for  Offences 
against  the  United  States,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment. 

He  shall  have  Power,  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent 
of  the  Senate,  to  make  Treaties,  provided  two  thirds  of  the  Sen- 
ators present  concur  ;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with 
the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint  Ambassa- 
dors, other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls,  Judges  of  the  supreme 
Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  Ap- 
pointments are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which 
shall  be  established  by  Law  :  but  the  Congress  may  by  Law  vest 
the  Appointment  of  such  inferior  Officers,  as  they  think  proper, 
in  the  President  alone,  in  the  Courts  of  Law,  or  in  the  Heads  of 
Departments. 

The  President  shall  have  Power  to  fill  up  all  Vacancies  that 
may  happen  during  the  Recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  Com- 
missions which  shall  expire  at  the  End  of  their  next  Session. 

C  (  Section.  3.  He  shall  from  time  to  time  giVe  to  the  Congress 
Information  of  the  State  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their 
Consideration  such  Measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  ex- 
pedient ;1  he  may,  on  extraordinary  Occasions,  convene  both 
Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  Case  of  Disagreement  between 
them,  with  Respect  to  the  Time  of  Adjournment,  he  may  ad- 
journ them  to  such  Time  as  he  shall  think  proper  ;lhe  shall  re- 
ceive Ambassadors  and  other  public  Ministers  ;  he  shall  take 
Care  that  the  Laws  be  faithfully  executed,  and  shall  Commission 
all  the  Officers  of  the  United  States. 

Section.  4.  The  President,  Vice  President  and  all  civil 
Officers  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  Office  on 
Impeachment  for,  and  Conviction  of,  Treason,  Bribery,  or  other 
high  Crimes  and  Misdemeanors. 


C 


486  THE  CO:^STITUTION  OF 


ARTICLE  III. 

Section".  1.  The  judicial  Power  of  tlie  United  States,  shall 
be  vested  in  one  supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as 
the  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The 
Judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  Courts,  shall  hold  their 
Offices  during  good  Behaviour,  and  shall,  at  stated  Times,  re- 
ceive for  their  Services,  a  Compensation,  which  shall  not  be 
diminished  during  their  Continuance  in  Office. 

Sectioist.  2.  The  judicial  Power  shall  extend  to  all  Cases,  in 
Law  and  Equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  Laws  of 
the  United  States,  and  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  their  Authority ; — to  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors, 
other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls  ; — to  all  Cases  of  admiralty 
and  maritime  Jurisdiction  ;  —  to  Controversies  to  which  the 
United  States  shall  be  a  Party  ; — to  Controversies  between  two 
or  more  States  ; — between  a  State  and  Citizens  of  another  State  ; 
— between  Citizens  of  different  States, — between  Citizens  of  the 
same  State  claiming  Lands  under  Grants  of  different  States,  and 
between  a  State,  or  the  Citizens  thereof,  and  foreign  States,  Citi- 
zens or  Subjects. 

In  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers 
and  Consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  Party,  the 
supreme  Court  shall  have  original  Jurisdiction.  In  all  the 
other  Cases  before  mentioned,  the  supreme  Court  shall  have 
appellate  Jurisdiction,  both  as  to  Law  and  Fact,  with  such 
Exceptions,  and  under  such  Regulations  as  the  Congress  shall 
make. 

The  Trial  of  all  Crimes,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment, 
shall  be  by  Jury  ;  and  such  Trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State 
where  the  said  Crimes  shall  have  been  committed  ;  but  when  not 
committed  within  any  State,  the  Trial  shall  be  at  such  Place  or 
Places  as  the  Congress  may  by  Law  have  directed. 

Section.  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States,  shall  consist 
only  in  levying  War  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  Ene- 
mies, giving  them  Aid  and  Comfort.  !N'o  Person  shall  be  con- 
victed of  Treason  unless  on  the  Testimony  of  two  Witnesses  to 
the  same  overt  Act,  or  on  Confession  in  open  Court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  declare  the  Punishment  of 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  487 

Treason,  but  no  Attainder  of  Treason  shall  work  Corruption  of 
Blood,  or  Forfeiture  except  during  the  Life  of  the  Person  at- 
tainted. 

ARTICLE.  lY. 
Section".  1.  Full  Faith  and  Credit  shall  be  given  in  each 
State  to  the  public  Acts,  Records,  and  judicial  Proceedings  of 
every  other  State.  And  the  Congress  may  by  general  Laws  pre- 
scribe the  Manner  in  which  such  Acts,  Records  and  Proceedings 
shall  be  proved,  and  the  Effect  thereof. 

Section.  2.  The  Citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to 
all  Privileges  and  Immunities  of  Citizens  in  the  several  States. 

A  Person  charged  in  any  State  with  Treason,  Felony,  or 
other  Crime,  who  shall  flee  from  Justice,  and  be  found  in  an- 
other State,  shall  on  Demand  of  the  executive  Authority  of  the 
State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up,  to  be  removed  to  the 
State  having.  Jurisdiction  of  the  Crime. 

No  Person  held  to  Service  or  Labour  in  one  State,  under  the 
Laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  Consequence  of 
any  Law  or  Regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  Service 
or  Labour,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  Claim  of  the  Party  to 
whom  such  Service  or  Labour  may  be  due. 

Section-.  3.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress 
into  this  Union  ;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected 
within  the  Jurisdiction  of  any  other  State ;  nor  any  State  be 
formed  by  the  Junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  Parts  of  States, 
without  the  Consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  concerned 
as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all 
needful  Rules  and  Regulations  respecting  the  Territory  or  other 
Property  belonging  to  the  United  States  ;  and  nothing  in  this 
Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  Prejudice  any  Claims  of 
the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

Sectioi:^.  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every 
State  in  this  Union  a  Republican  Form  of  Government,  and 
shall  protect  each  of  them  against  Invasion  ;  and  on  Application 
of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature 
cannot  be  convened)  against  domestic  Violence. 


488  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF 

ARTICLE.  V. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two  thirds  of  both  Houses  shall 
deem  it  necessary,  shall  propose  Amendments  to  this  Constitu- 
tion, or,  on  the  Application  of  the  Legislatures  of  two  thirds  of 
the  several  States,  shall  call  a  Convention  for  proposing  Amend- 
ments, which,  in  either  Case,  shall  be  valid  to  all  Intents  and 
Purposes,  as  part  of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified  by  the  Legis- 
latures of  three  fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by  Conventions 
in  three  fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  Mode  of  Ratifi- 
cation may  be  proposed  by  the  Congress ;  Provided  that  no 
Amendment  which  may  be  made  prior  to  the  Year  One  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eight  shall  in  any  Manner  affect  the  first  and 
fourth  Clauses  in  the  Ninth  Section  of  the  first  Article  ;  and 
that  BO  State,  without  its  Consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal 
Suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE.  VL 

All  Debts  contracted  and  Engagements  entered  into,  before 
the  Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the 
United  States  under  this  Constitution,  as  under  the  Confedera- 
tion. 

This  Constitution,  and  the  Laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  Pursuance  thereof  ;  and  all  Treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  Authority  of  the  United  States, 
shall  be  the  supreme  Law  of  the  Land  ;  and  the  Judges  in  every 
State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  any  Thing  in  the  Constitution  or 
Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the 
Members  of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and 
judicial  Officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
States,  shall  be  bound  by  Oath  or  Affirmation,  to  support  this 
Constitution  ;  but  no  religious  Test  shall  ever  be  required  as 
a  Qualification  to  any  Office  or  public  Trust  under  the  United 
States. 

ARTICLE.  VIL 

The  Ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States,  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  Establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the 
States  so  ratifying  the  Same. 

Done  in  Convention  by  the  Unanimous  Consent  of  the  States 
present  the  Seventeenth  Day  of  September  in  the  Year  of 


THE  UOTTED  STATES  OF  AMEPwIOA. 


489 


New  Hampshire 


Massachusetts. 


our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  Eighty  seven 
and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America 
the  Twelfth  In  Witness  whereof  We  have  hereunto 
subscribed  our  Names, 

G^:  WASHINGTOlSr— 
JPresidt.  and  deputy  from  Virginia 
(  John  Langdon      ) 
(  Nicholas  Gilman  ) 
j  Nathaniel  Gorham 
(  RuFus  King 
j  Wm.  Saml.  Johnson 
(  RoGEK  Sherman 

New  York Alexander  Hamilton 

WiL :  Livingston 
David  Brearley. 
Wm.  Paterson. 
JoNA :  Dayton 


B  Franklin 
Thomas  Mifflin 
RoBT.  Morris. 
Geo.  Clymer 
Thos.  Fitzsimons 
Jared  Ingersoll 
James  Wilson 
Gouv  Morris 


Connecticut. 


New  Jersey . 


Fensylvania 


Delaware. 


Maryland 

Virginia 

North  Carolina, 


''  Geo  :  Read 
Gunning  Bedford  Jun 
John  Dickinson 
Richard  Bassett 
Jaco :  Broom 

James  McHenry 

Dan  of  St  Thos.  Jenifer 

Danl.  Carroll 

j  John  Blair — 

(  James  Madison  Jr. 

r 

Wm.  Blount 

RiCHD.  DoBBS  Spaight 

Hu  Williamson 


490 


THE  CONSTITUTION. 


South  Carolina, 


Georgia. 
Attest 


j.  rutledge 

Charles  Coteswoeth  Pinckney 

Chaeles  Pinckney 

PlEECE   BUTLEE. 

William  Few 
Abe  Baldwii^ 


WILLIAM  JACKSON  Secretary 


The  Word,  "  the  ",  being  interlined  between  the  seventh  and 
eighth  Lines  of  the  first  Page,  The  Word  *'  Thirty  "  being  partly- 
written  on  an  Erazure  in  the  fifteenth  Line  of  the  first  Page, 
The  Words  "  is  tried  "  being  interlined  between  the  thirty  sec- 
ond and  thirty  third  Lines  of  the  first  Page  and  the  Word 
"  the  "  being  interlined  between  the  forty  third  and  forty  fourth 
Lines  of  the  second  Page. 

[lN"oTE  BY  THE  Depaetment  OF  State. — The  foregoing  ex- 
planation in  the  original  instrument  is  placed  on  the  left  of  the 
paragraph  beginning  with  the  words,  "Done  in  Convention," 
and  therefore  precedes  the  signatures.  The  interlined  and  re- 
written words,  mentioned  in  it,  are  in  this  edition  printed  in 
their  proper  places  in  the  text.] 


AETIGLES 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 

PROPOSED   BY   CONGRESS, 

AND  EATIFIED  BY  THE  LEGISLATURES  OF  THE  SEVERAL  STATES,  PURSTJANT 
TO  THE  EIPTH  ARTICLE  OE  THE  ORIGINAL  CONSTITUTION. 


[ARTICLE  I] 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof  ;  or  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press  ;  or  the  right  of  the  people 
peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  Government  for  a  re- 
di'ess  of  grievances. 

[ARTICLE  IL] 

A  well  regulated  Militia,  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a 
free  State,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  Arms,  shall 
not  be  infringed. 

[ARTICLE  III.] 

No  Soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace  be  quartered  in  any  house, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Owner,  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a 
manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

[ARTICLE  IV.] 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures, 
shall  not  be  violated,  and  no  Warrants  shall  issue,  but  upon  prob- 
able cause,  supported  by  Oath  or  affirmation,  and  particularly 
describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the  persons  or  things  to 
be  seized. 


492  .  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF 

[ARTICLE  v.] 

"No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital,  or  otherwise 
infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand 
Jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the 
Militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time  of  War  or  public  danger  ; 
nor  shall  any  person  be  subject  for  the  same  offence  to  be  twice 
put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ;  nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any 
Criminal  Case  to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be  deprived 
of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law ;  nor 
shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use,  without  just  com- 
pensation. 

[ARTICLE  YL] 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right 
to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State 
and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which 
district  shall  have  been  previously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be 
informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation  ;  to  be  con- 
fronted with  the  witnesses  against  him ;  to  have  compulsory 
process  for  obtaining  Witnesses  in  his  favor,  and  to  have  the 
Assistance  of  Counsel  for  his  defence. 

[ARTICLE  VIL] 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall 
exceed  twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  pre- 
served, and  no  fact  tried  by  a  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-exam- 
ined in  any  Court  of  the  United  States,  than  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  common  law. 

[ARTICLE  VIIL] 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  im- 
posed, nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

[ARTICLE  IX.] 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution,  of  certain  rights,  shall 
not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the 
people. 

[ARTICLE  X.] 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Con- 
stitution, nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the 
States  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 

/ 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  493 

[ARTICLE   XI.] 

The  Judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  con- 
strued to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or 
prosecuted  against  one  of  the  United  States  by  Citizens  of  an- 
other State,  or  by  Citizens  or  Subjects  of  any  Foreign  State. 

[ARTICLE  XII.] 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states,  and  vote 
by  ballot  for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at 
least,  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  with  them- 
selves ;  they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as 
President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  Yice- 
President,  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  persons  voted 
for  as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President, 
and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  lists  they  shall  sign 
and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of 
the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate  ; — The 
President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  certificates  and  the  votes 
shall  then  be  counted  ; — The  person  having  the  greatest  number 
of  votes  for  President,  shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be 
a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  Electors  appointed ;  and  if 
no  person  have  such  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the 
highest  numbers  not  exceeding  three  on  the  list  of  those  voted 
for  as  President,  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  im- 
mediately, by  ballot,  the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  Presi- 
dent, the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  states,  the  representation  from 
each  state  having  one  vote  ;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  con- 
sist of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of  the  states,  and 
a  majority  of  all  the  states  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  And 
if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  President 
whenever  the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before 
the  fourth  day  of  March  next  following,  then  the  Vice-President 
shall  act  as  President,  as  in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  con- 
stitutional disability  of  the  President.  The  person  having  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-President,  shall  be  the  Vice- 
President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of 
Electors  appointed,  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from 
the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the 
Vice-President ;  a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two- 


494:  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF 

thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the 
whole  number  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But  no  person 
constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  President  shall  be  eligi- 
ble to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

ARTICLE  XIII. 

Sectioj^"  1.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  ex- 
cept as  a  punishment  for  crime  whereof  the  party  shall  have 
been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any 
place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

Section-  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article 
by  appropriate  legislation. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

Section-  1.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United 
States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside.  'No  State 
shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privileges 
or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  ;  nor  shall  any 
State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without 
due  process  of  law  ;  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdic- 
tion the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 

Section-  2.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the 
several  States  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting 
the  whole  number  of  persons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians 
not  taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the 
choice  of  electors  for  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States,  Representatives  in  Congress,  the  Executive  and  Judicial 
officers  of  a  State,  or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  thereof,  is 
denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such  State,  being  twen- 
ty-one years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any 
way  abridged,  except  for  participation  in  rebellion,  or  other 
crime,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the 
proportion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to 
the  whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  in 
such  State. 

Section-  3.     No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative 

Congress,  or  elector  of  President  and  Vice  President,  or  hold 

Q  3e,  civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under 


THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.  495 

any  State,  who,  having  previously  taken  an  oath,  as  a  member  of 
Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  member 
of  any  State  legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of 
any  State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same, 
or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof.  But  Congress 
may  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such  dis- 
ability. 

Sectioit  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United 
States,  authorized  by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment 
of  pensions  and  bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection 
or  rebellion,  shall  not  be  questioned.  But  neither  the  United 
States  nor  any  State  shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation 
incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave  ; 
but  all  such  debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal 
and  void. 

Section  5.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by 
appropriate  legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

ARTICLE  XY. 

Section  1.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to 
vote  shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States  or  by 
any  State  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude. 

Section  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this 
article  by  appropriate  legislation. 


( 


J 


I. 


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